Help from afar
by fulcrum101
Summary: At war with the fire nation, the earth kingdom asks for help, and they get it… in the form of a hard icy woman.
1. Chapter 1

Help from afar

Summary: At war with the fire nation, the earth kingdom asks for help, and they get it… in the form of a hard icy woman.

Ch 1 New mission

Brigadier General Olivier Mira Armstrong walked the halls of central command, scowling. She was on leave from Briggs, and Fuhrer Mustang, the bastard, had the testicles to call her in for a meeting.

"Mustang!" she shouted, knocking the door to his office wide open, fury in her eyes.

"General Armstrong. You've arrived." Roy Mustang said, smirking.

Olivier wanted to pull out her sword, and thrust it thru him. But she held back.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"We've received word from a distant country, calling itself the Earth-Kingdom, that they're at war." Mustang said.

"I've heard of this country. Why should we get involved?" Olivier asked.

"Amestris has Alchemy and we're beginning to learn more about Alkhestry. We've heard reports that this country, and the other countries next to it, have something called bending. It's where a person can literally move the elements at will, such like earth, water, or fire. Imagine having that at Briggs." Mustang said.

"You bastard. Fine. What's the deal?" Olivier asked.

"Simple. You get send to help them, and in return, we get water and earth benders." Mustang said.

"It'll take time to organize a team from Briggs. I'll also need to know what kind of environment and terrain I'll be operating in." Olivier said.

"I'm not done yet. I'm sending only you. They've asked for the best we've got. And you're the best." Mustang said.

"Why not the Elric brothers?" Olivier asked.

"They're on leave. That leaves you." Mustang said.

"Wait. Just me?" Olivier asked, confused.

"Yeah. The earth kingdom is real adamant on having help. And after the mess with the Homunculi, we really can't afford to send mass armies." Mustang said.

Olivier gripped the bridge of her nose.

"General, I've heard some reports about their enemy, called the fire nation. Considering you faced down Sloth and other dangerous homunculi, they should be no trouble to you. We all know what you're capable off in combat." Mustang said.

"Damn it. Looks like I've no choice. I'll go. But you better increase my pay." Olivier said, wanting some compensation.

"Done. I suggest you get ready." Mustang said.

"What kind of environment will I be fighting in?" Olivier asked.

"Summer and desert." Mustang said.

As Olivier left, Mustang gave one final note.

"By the way, there's a person you need to find and protect. The Avatar." Mustang said.

"What's that?" Olivier asked.

"My sources tell me that he's a person, who can bend the 4 elements; water, earth, fire, and air. They believe that he's the key to winning their war. Find, and protect him." Mustang said.

Olivier seethed. Not only was she sent to fight another war, but she was asked to babysit some person. Not her thing. Survival of the fittest was her mindset. Olivier went to her mansion, and started getting ready for her mission. She grabbed her sword, and 3 combat knives. She stocked up on water canteens, and gathered clothing suitable to the desert. Instead of the heavy clothing she'd wear up north, she choose light shirts, pants, and shorts.

"Olivier, where are you going?" Alex asked.

"Fuhrer bastard is assigning me to fight in another country. It's called the earth kingdom. Heard of it?" Olivier asked.

"No. Haven't heard of it." Alex said.

Olivier finished packing up. She put it all in a pack, and headed back to central. Upon arrival, she was seen by a new state alchemist. The invisible alchemist, as she was known, because she used alchemy to transport herself from one spot to another.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Ready." Olivier said.

With the clap of hands, Olivier was transported from Amestris, to the earth kingdom.

Immediately, she squinted her eyes, as the harsh sun beat on her. She found herself in a town of some sorts. She took notice of the people. They had worn haggard looks, the looks of people under defeat.

Olivier started walking and also noticed groups of soldiers, wearing red uniforms. She quickly noticed that the uniforms also had markings of fire. She quickly surmised that these soldiers were of the fire nation.

Wanting to avoid attention, she walked into a bar. She noticed more fire nation soldiers, and quickly got attention, thanks to her blue uniform.

"Hey, water-tribe girl. You're in the wrong place." A soldier sneered.

Olivier ignored them, and noticed some wanted posters. She quickly read them. One was for the blue spirit, another for a fire nation general turned traitor, and one for a bald kid, named the Avatar. She grabbed the poster, and hid it in her shirt.

"Alright girl, that's enough." A soldier said.

Olivier put her hand on her valued sword. She waited for a moment to strike. The soldier grabbed Olivier by the shoulder and turned her around, only for Olivier to cut his head off with her sword.

"You're under arrest." A fire-bender said, showing flames.

"Come and get me." Olivier growled.

The fire-bender fired a burst of fire, and was surprised when Olivier wasn't there. He screamed in pain, as Olivier thrust his sword thru his side. She tossed the dead soldier into the other soldiers, and went outside, sword in hand.

The fire nation soldier's surrounded her, and Olivier charged. She parried sword blows with enemy swords and spears. Once they started using fire-bending, Olivier quickly grabbed one of the soldiers, and used him as a human shield.

"Drop your weapons, or I kill him!" She yelled.

The fire nation soldiers stood back, and let Olivier move with her hostage. As she moved backwards, she looked at the buildings, and saw a water tower. Getting close to it, she then killed her hostage, and quickly slashed her sword. Thankfully, the sword cut thru the rotting wood, and the structure fell, spilling water all over the place and gave Olivier the time needed to escape.

Hours later, and Olivier entered another small town. She took shelter in a barn, and slept on the hay. Drifting into sleep, she pulled out the wanted poster of the Avatar. It gave some details about him.

 _Bald, air-nomad tattoos, very expert in bending._

"What's so important about this person, that the fire nation is paying a hefty sum on him? Sounds like they're declaring war on one person." She muttered to herself.

And said person was what she was ordered to protect. Olivier sighed. This wasn't her day. She already ran into some trouble with some fire nation soldiers. If only she had more information about this war. And how did Amestris get contacts inside this country? She put it aside as she fell asleep.

Next morning, she awoke to the noise of screaming, and furniture breaking.

"No, don't take her!" a man yelled.

"Sorry pal. Fire Lord's orders." A fire nation soldier sneered.

Olivier drawn her sword, ready for a fight. Her stomach then roared. And she was hungry at the same time. From her experience, not a good combination. A gruesome scream was heard, and a body fell to the floor.

"Leave her alone!" Olivier said, entering the door. The sight surprised her. Around 3 fire nation soldiers had a middle-aged women on a table, hands and feet pinned down, her skirt ripped off. She quickly saw her husband lying on the floor, in a pile of blood.

"This isn't your business, lady." One of the soldier's said.

Olivier grabbed a knife, and threw it towards the soldier, killing him. The other soldier began to fire-bend, but Olivier quickly closed the distance, and thru him against the wall.

"You're an idiot, you know that. Fire and wood don't take kindly to each other!" She growled, before driving a knife into his neck.

The last soldier quickly ran out of the house, not wanting to fight the 'ice queen.' As he ran, he suddenly screamed in pain, as a Briggs throwing knife was imbedded in his back. Olivier walked up to the dead soldier and pulled out her knife.

With time running out, Olivier quickly left. And just in time. At the town she flooded with the water tank, princess Azula was visiting.

"What happened here?" Azula asked.

"A minor disturbance, princess." The governor said, not wanting to set off Azula.

"A minor disturbance. Half the town is flooded, and 5 fire nation soldiers are dead, one of them incinerated. What happened?" Azula growled, closing the distance between her and the governor.

"It was one person, princess. She was fast and strong. She was only armed with a sword. No bending." One of the soldiers said.

"Anything else about her?" Azula asked.

"She wore blue clothing and had blond hair to her waist." the soldier said.

"Alright. Mai, Ty Lee, we're moving out." Azula said.


	2. Chapter 2 acquiring knowledge

Ch 2 Acquiring knowledge

Olivier came across a small farm, and saw an odd looking creature. It was a cross between a horse, and an ostrich. She climbed on, and grabbed the reins.

"Forward!" she shouted, and to creature moved forward.

As she moved across the earth kingdom territory, she saw signs of battles between the fire nation and the earth kingdom. Dead bodies were rotting, and weapons were strewn across the field. She also saw giant slabs of earth, like they were tossed around. Mustang told her that these people didn't have alchemy, or so he said.

Dismounting, she investigated the rocks. She found nothing telling of transmutation, the signs of alchemy. Heading back to her animal, she saw a piece of paper. Pulling it, she saw that it was a good sized map of the area. She scourged the area, and found additional maps. While most of them were about troop movements, they were crucial to telling her where she was.

"Misty palms Oasis." She muttered, seeing a location on one of the maps. Folding them away, she headed towards the Oasis. Once there, she planned to start searching for the Avatar.

2 days later, she arrived at the Oasis. And it wasn't an Oasis at all. All it had was a chunk of ice in the middle, with a bar establishment. And just beyond the little town, was a large desert of sand. Olivier saw a giant bison with a saddle on the top, and it had a giant arrow on the head.

"I've seen crazy shit for the past 2 years, starting with the homunculi. Now this. I need a drink." Olivier muttered.

She entered inside, catching some people's eyes. She headed to the bar, and got a drink. She pulled out the wanted poster, and asked for the avatar.

"I'll show you where he is, if you give me incentive." The bartender said, moving two of his fingers together.

Olivier grabbed the bartender, and slammed his head on the table, breaking his noise. She looked around the room, and quickly saw the avatar. His bald head was a dead giveaway, along with the blue arrow. Next to him were 3 other kids. Kids!

Toph turned around, and 'saw' Olivier, hand on her sword. Eyes pointed at them in dead concentration.

"Guys, I think miss 'ice glare' is listening to us." Toph said.

 _Ice glare? Well it fits my personality, much like ice queen._ Olivier thought.

"I here you're looking for a library." Olivier said.

The group looked at Olivier, not sure what to make of her.

"Why are you interested?" Sokka asked, suspicious.

"Simple. I'm a high ranking officer in the Amestris military, and I've been ordered to protect the Avatar. The bald kid." Olivier said.

"Amestris?" Aang asked.

"Yeah. It's a long story. I'd rather not get into it." She growled.

"If your country is helping us, where can we find your army?" Sokka asked.

"They just sent me." Olivier said.

"What? Just one person?! What can you do to help us?" Sokka asked.

Olivier grabbed Sokka and threw him across the room, into a wall.

She quickly ran over to him and threw him again, at the table his friends were. Olivier grabbed Sokka and lifted him from his neck.

"Need I say more?" Olivier asked.

"Nope. You can come with us." Sokka said.

"We didn't get your name." Katara said.

"Olivier Mira Armstrong." Olivier said.

Katara introduced her friends, and then herself. The one with the ponytail, that she just beat the shit out of, was Sokka. The bald kid was named Aang. The blind girl was named Toph.

"Where is this library?" Olivier ask.

"There is the matter of finding it. I've made several trips into the desert, and nearly died every time. I'm afraid it's impossible." Dr. Zei said.

"Professor, would you like to see our sky bison?" Sokka asked.

"A sky bison?" the professor asked.

Exiting the bar, Olivier noticed several clothed individuals near the bison. Olivier watched the odd band of people. She had a feeling of distrust about them.

"Sand benders, shoo! Away from the bison."

As Olivier climbed on the bison, she heard Aang say something she scoffed at.

"It shouldn't be too hard to find something like this." He said, looking at a picture of a large library.

"It's in the desert, right?" Olivier asked.

"Yeah." Aang said.

"You're not gonna find it. The desert sands always change, especially in an area as big as this one. It's probably buried. Professor, you may have been walking over the building the entire time, and never know about it." Olivier said.

Time went on, and Olivier observed the group. Professor Zei wasn't hard to figure out. He appeared to enjoy his work, and delved into it. Toph had a 'what you see is what you get' look and attitude. Olivier had the same thing, as did the soldiers at Briggs. It was something she enjoyed. Sokka was just plain odd. That was the only legitimate way Olivier could put it. Katara seemed to be more mature, but time would tell. But by looking at her body posture, Olivier could tell that she was under some stress. Aang... the kid was totally naïve, in his own world. He reminded Olivier of the Elric brothers when they first arrived at the Briggs fortress. She wondered if the kid was capable of concentrating on the task on hand. If not, it would be dangerous, if not deadly.

She would have to keep an extra eye on him. And if something went horribly wrong because he failed to pay attention, like she suspected he did, she would give him the full wrath of the ice queen. Many preferred to die, rather than face her wrath.

"There it is!" Toph shouted.

Everyone looked to see what Toph was pointing at, and saw nothing.

"That's what it would sound like if one of you found it." Toph said, than waved a hand in front of her blind eyes.

Sokka than saw something.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing to the ground.

Olivier saw, and barely made out a tower, sticking out in the desert sand. They landed, and observed the rather tall tower.

"Forget it. It's not what we're looking for." Katara said.

"Let me see." Olivier said, taking the paper. She carefully looked at the tower, and then at the paper.

"What kind of an animal is that?" Sokka asked.

They saw a wolf climb up the wall, and inside the tower.

"That's impossible." Olivier said. No species of the canine was capable of doing so. Even with alchemy, one would be hard pressed to create such an animal.

"A fox. We must be close!" Dr Zei said.

"No, we're at the tower." Olivier said.

"She's right. It's completely buried." Sokka said.

The professor went hysteric.

"It's buried? My whole life's ambition is ruined! Time to start digging." The professor said, pulling out a garden spade.

"That's not gonna cut it. It'll take a lot of everything." Olivier said.

Thankfully, Toph provided a much better solution.

"Actually, you won't need to dig. The inside is intact, and it's huge."

"The fox went inside. I say we go and take a look." Sokka said.

"Go on without me." Toph said.

"Why not?" Katara asked.

"I've held books before, and they don't exactly do it for me." Toph said.

"Oh. Sorry." Katara sheepishly said.

"Let me know if there's something you can listen to in there." Toph said.

The group entered the library, and saw an impressive view.

"Wow. Talk about a view." Olivier said.

As they touched the ground, Dr. Zei was caught up in looking at a mosaic pattern.

"Look at that pattern. The exquisite handiwork of…" Zei quit talking, when he noticed a stuffed head. "Nice owl."

"Hide." Olivier said, hiding behind a pillar.

Everyone hid behind two pillars, and waited as a deep voice was heard.

"I know you're there." The owl said, appearing.

To Olivier's surprise, Aang poked his head out. It was a great target for enemy snipers. Yep, the kid was a moron.

Then Dr. Zei walked out in the middle of the open, appearing to the owl. What an idiot! He'd be lucky if the owl didn't kill him right then and there.

"I'm professor Zei, head of anthropology in Ba sing se."

"I suggest you leave. Humans are not allowed in here. Unless you want be a stuffed head of anthropology." The owl threatened.

Dr. Zei backed away, clutching his neck.

"Are you the spirit who brought this library into the physical world?" Sokka asked.

 _Jesus Christ, this owl's gonna fucking murder us!_ Olivier thought.

"I am Wa Shi Tong, the spirit who brought the library into the physical world. And you are humans, who are no longer allowed in here."

"What do you have against humans?" Aang asked.

"Humans only bother learning to gain an edge over other humans. Like that fire-bender who came in here years ago, looking for ways to destroy his enemy. So, who are you trying to destroy?" Wa Shi Tong asked.

"What? We're not here to destroy." Sokka said, trying to bullshit his way past the owl. Even a moron could sense that this plan was going to fail. And Olivier was surprised when Sokka managed to persuade the owl to let them stay.

"To let you in, you need to contribute some worthwhile knowledge." Wa Shi Tong said.

"It's a special knot." Sokka said. Olivier rolled her eyes. How that kid was still alive in the middle of a world war, was beyond her.

The owl moved to Olivier. The two stared each other down.

"You're a strange case." The owl said.

"I'm not from here." Olivier said.

"Indeed. Few humans make effort to hide themselves, and don't study potential enemies with great detail." The owl said.

Olivier pulled out one of her Briggs throwing knives.

"What might that be?" the bird asked.

"Throwing knife, manufactured from Briggs fortress. Doesn't get any better than this." Olivier said.

The owl took the knife, and flew off.

Olivier grabbed books and studied about bending, and the Avatar. While most of the information about the Avatar was incomplete, she was quick to grasp several key points. The benders were rather skilled, and powerful benders. Some of them. Olivier let the information sit in her head. With platoons of water benders at Briggs fortress, the Drakmans would never be able to break thru.

And the Avatar was also something else. A powerful enough avatar, could destroy the world quickly. Olivier spared a glance at Aang. If the kid was a powerful bender, he lacked discipline. And discipline and drive, was more important than power and strength.

One of the foxes came to the group, and they followed it into a large planetarium.

"This room is a marvel! It's a planetarium showing the heavens moving." Dr. Zei said.

"How does this help us?" Sokka asked.

Katara looked over the large dial. She noticed that the markings were dates and times.

"Sokka, put in the date from the parchment you took." Katara said.

After Sokka put in the date, the planetarium moved several key parts, and the ceiling's atmosphere gave the appearance of a solar eclipse.

"Great, you broke it." Aang said.

"No it's not. Look, the sun is behind the moon. It's a solar eclipse. It's literally the darkest day in the fire nation. Fire benders lose their power!" Sokka said.

"And this helps you, how?" Olivier asked.

"We can use this information to launch an attack on the fire nation and end the war." Sokka said.

Olivier rolled her eyes.

"It's gonna fail. You don't know when the next eclipse will happen, eclipses don't last 24 hours, and it's the 4 of you against a superpower." Olivier said.

"We'll take the information to Ba Sing Se. We have the Avatar." Sokka said.

"That's a bullshit plan. It takes more than words and titles to win a war. Have you even considered what to do if the invasion fails?" Olivier asked.

Wa Shi Tong came, and he was pissed.

"Ya'll suck, you know that? From the beginning you intended on using the knowledge for evil purposes." Wa Shi Tong said.

"If anyone's evil, it's the fire nation. Look at what they did to your library." Sokka said.

"You think you're the first person to believe this war is justified? Countless others came in here, seeking weapons, weakness, or battle strategies." The owl said.

"Please, we're just desperate to protect the one's we love!" Aang pleaded.

The owl was unmoved.

"And I'm protecting what I love." The owl said, flapping his wings. The building began to violently shake.

"What are you doing?" Aang asked.

"I'm taking my knowledge back. No one will ever abuse it again." Wa Shi Tong said.

"We got to get out of here." Katara said.

 _No Shit!_ Olivier thought.

"I can't allow that. You already know too much." Wa Shi Tong said.

Aang knocked the owl away with a blast of air bending. The group ran thru the library, even though it was starting to sink. Olivier saw Aang and Sokka run back towards the planetarium.

"The fuck are they doing?" Olivier asked.

"Trying to figure out the next solar eclipse." Katara said.

"They're either very brave, very stupid, very desperate, or all of the above. Take your pick." Olivier said.

Katara would have laughed, if the situation wasn't so dire. They reached the rope, only for Wa Shi Tong to corner them. Olivier pulled out her sword, then quickly put it away when she saw the owl rear its body to full size.

"Fuck." Olivier muttered.

"Your water bending will do no good here. I know all the forms of bending." Wa Shi Tong said.

A heavy thudding was heard, and the owl fell unconscious.

"That's Sokka style. Learn it." Sokka said.

"Great. Now the hell going!" Olivier said, climbing up the rope.

In a mad hurry, the Gaang escaped the library, just as it sank into the desert said.

"We got a solar eclipse on our hand! The fire nation is in trouble now!" Sokka said, hugging his sister.

But Aang and Olivier noticed something else.

"Where's Appa?" Aang asked.

Toph only shook her head. After she explained the ambush, Aang exploded at her.

"How could you let them take Appa?" he asked.

"The library was sinking! I had to stop it." Toph said.

"You could have come inside to get us. I could have saved him!" Aang shouted.

Toph continued to explain her side, but Aang refused to listen.

"You didn't care! You never liked Appa! You wanted him gone!" Aang shouted.

"That's enough!" Olivier shouted. "We need to move, right now. Getting out of this desert the only thing we can do at the moment!"

"I'm going after Appa." Aang said, and flew in the distance with his glider.

"Avatar, my ass." Olivier growled.


	3. Chapter 3 the Sahara

Ch 3 the Sahara

Olivier quickly wrote the Avatar off as KIA. Dead. Six feet under.

"We need to move. We're the only ones who know about the solar eclipse." Katara said.

"I'll take point." Olivier said, walking in front of them.

Sokka then made a stupid comment.

"You think we dig out the owl he'll give us a ride?"

"You want to wait here, be my guest." Olivier said.

"No. Roasting in the desert is fine by me." Sokka said.

It was apparent who was the brains and mature one. After an hour of walking in the desert, the group was at the ends of their endurance. Sokka used the lemur as a makeshift umbrella, when Toph bumped into him.

"Can't you watch where you're going?" Sokka asked.

"No. I can't." Toph said.

"Oh. Right." Sokka said, realizing Toph was blind.

"Come on guys. We have to stick together." Katara said.

"If I sweat any more, that won't be a problem." Sokka said, trying to separate himself from Toph. Toph gave Sokka hard shove, separating the two of them.

"Katara, can I have some water?" Toph asked.

"Okay, but we have to conserve it." Katara said.

Katara made 2 blobs of water and put it in their mouths.

"We're drinking your bending water?" Sokka asked, then tasted it. "You used this one the swamp guys."

"It does taste a bit swampy." Toph nonchalantly said.

"It's all we have." Katara said.

"I have 2 more water bottles, but it's not enough." Olivier said. She then pulled out a compass and stared intently at it.

"Damn it." She growled, putting it away.

"I need a map." Olivier said.

Katara gave Olivier a map, and watched her look over it. Despite the situation they were in, Katara couldn't help but slightly admire Olivier, as she focused on survival. Olivier shook her head and looked at the sky.

"We'll be dead long before we reach the border. Not in conditions like this." Olivier said.

"You have any ideas?" Katara asked.

"Only one. Sleep during the day, travel at night. Conserve water as best as we can. Even with that, we might not make it." Olivier said.

"Look!" Sokka said, pointing to a cactus.

If Olivier knew how odd Sokka really was, this was proving ground.

"Sokka, you shouldn't eat strange plants." Katara warned, but it fell on deaf ears, as Sokka and Momo drank the liquid in the cactus.

"It's got water inside." Sokka said, drinking it.

"I don't think so." Katara said.

"Suit yourself. Its quench thirsting." Sokka said.

Sokka's pupil's dialated. Olivier saw this, and knew that Sokka drank some sort of hallucinogen. Sokka then spoke and moved in a manner that suggest they film the scene in the desert.

"Drink cactus juice. It'll quench ya. Nothing's quenchier."

Sokka quickly crawled on the ground like a caterpillar, than stood up with the same creepy smile he had earlier.

"It's the quenchiest!" he declared.

"I think you've had enough." Katara said, taking the cactus, and dumping the remains on the ground.

"Can I have some?" Toph asked.

"Who lit Toph on fire?" Sokka asked, oblivious to the situation on hand.

Olivier slammed a hand to her face. This was getting more frustrating by the second.

"How did we out here in the middle of the ocean?" Sokka asked, still having a full acid trip.

Katara groaned in annoyance. Olivier grabbed Sokka and pulled him along. As they continued walking thru the desert, a loud noise was heard. Olivier turned around, and saw a giant mushroom. Then a blast of sand from the mushroom hit them.

"What is that?" Katara asked.

"What, what is what?" Toph asked.

"It's a giant mushroom. Maybe it's friendly!" Sokka said, hands in the air.

"Lets keep moving." Katara said, grabbing Toph.

"Friendly mushroom! Mush giant friend!" Sokka said, waving his arms like a moron.

"This acid trip he's on better end real soon, or I'll stab him to death." Olivier said.

Hours passed, and the group already drank some water, depleting their already strained supply. Olivier was impressed by Katara. She took charge and kept everyone alive this far. She'd do well at Briggs fortress. A shadow appeared, and Aang came back, still having the sour look he had at the start.

"I'm sorry, Aang." Katara said, trying to comfort her friend. "I know it's hard, but we need to focus on getting out of here."

Olivier watched as Aang coldly pulled away from her. What a brat!

"We won't survive without Appa. We know it." Aang said, in a despondent voice.

Now that wasn't good. Aang was now the weakest link in the chain. If he kept this up, Olivier figured he'd be left behind to die. This desert had the same rules as the Briggs Mountain. Only the strong survive.

"Come on, Aang. We can survive if we work together. Right Toph?" Katara asked.

"As far as I can tell, we're in a giant bowl of sand pudding. I got nothing." Toph said.

"Sokka, any ideas?" Katara asked.

"Why don't we look at the circle birds?" Sokka asked, pointing to the sky.

Everyone looked, and Olivier pulled out her sword. Four Buzzard wasps flew over them, waiting for them to die. And given the conditions of the group, it wouldn't be long before everyone succumbed to sun fatigue and death.

Katara sighed and griped her head.

"We're getting out of this desert! Everyone, hold hands. Aang, get up. We can do this. We have to."

"About time someone grew a pair of balls." Olivier said.

Nighttime.

"I think we should stop for the night." Katara said.

Everyone collapsed on the ground, exhausted.

"Katara, any more water?" Toph asked.

"Last one." Olivier said, handing Katara her last full canteen. They had already drank Katara's water flask and Olivier's first canteen.

Momo dove into the water, and Sokka flipped out.

"Momo! You've killed us all!" Sokka shouted, hysterical.

"No he hasn't." Katara said, bending the water into the canteen.

"Oh. Bending." Sokka said.

Katara went over the star charts Sokka took from the library, and Olivier looked with her.

"My compass doesn't work in this desert. Anything useful?" Olivier asked.

"I only got these charts. But it's better than nothing." Katara said.

"It doesn't matter." Aang dejectedly said. "None of those will help us find Appa."

Olivier rolled her eyes in disgust. Aang was completely missing the point on hand. They had to get out of the desert and soon. Instead, he was whining about Appa being missing. Tough shit. They couldn't do anything about it.

"No, but we can find out which way it is to Ba Sing Se. Travel at night, sleep in the day." Katara said.

Everyone slept as Katara poured over the maps, trying to figure out a direction. Hours passed, and Katara woke everyone up.

"Yesterday my mouth tasted like mud. Now it taste likes sand. Never thought I'd miss the taste of mud." Toph said.

Katara went to Aang, but Aang was awake.

"I couldn't sleep." Aang said.

Aang and Katara noticed something in the sky. A large cloud hanging in the foreground of the bright moon.

"Appa!" Aang said. But the cloud didn't respond.

"I'm sorry Aang. It's just a cloud." Katara said. She than quickly got an idea.

"Wait. You can bend the water from the cloud into my pouch."

Aang gave Katara an angry glare, then flew into the cloud. After some passes, he came back and handed the pouch to Katara.

"Wow. There's nothing in here." She said.

Aang lashed out again.

"I'm sorry alright! It's a desert cloud. I all I could! What's anyone else doing?" Aang then turned on Katara. "What are you doing?"

The sound of a blade being unsheathed was heard, and Olivier walked toward Aang, anger written all over her. She grabbed his neck and lifted him up, putting the sword to his neck as well.

"I could ask you the same thing! You left everyone hanging! You're being so fucking irresponsible right now, that you can't be trusted to do anything, let alone handle the duties of being the Avatar! And we're in a fucking world war! Unless you grow a pair of balls like Katara, you will not live to see the end of the war! I suggest you settle down, because the world doesn't revolve around you, you ungrateful fuck!" Olivier yelled.

"We need to keep moving!" Olivier gestured with her sword, then started walking.

They walking thru the desert, until Toph tripped on a protruding object in the sand.

"I am so sick of not feeling where I'm going! And who's the asshole who decided to leave a boat in the middle of the desert?" She asked.

"A boat?" Katara asked.

"Believe me, I felt plenty of vibrations when I hit it." Toph said.

Aang blew the sand away, and revealed a perfectly made boat used by the sand benders.

"It's one of the gliders the sand benders use!" Katara exclaimed. "It's got a compass. Aang, you can bend a breeze so we can sail it. We're gonna make it!"

As everyone climbed on the boat, Olivier noticed Sokka burying Momo in the sand, laughing like an idiot.

"Jesus Christ." Olivier muttered. She grabbed Sokka, and with one arm, threw him on the boat, along with Momo.

As they sailed thru the desert, Olivier looked at the compass, and then her own compass.

"It doesn't seem to be pointing north according to my charts." Katara said.

"There's something in the desert attracting the magnetic pull of the compasses. And I'm guessing it's huge." Olivier said.

What came into view, was a large rock structure standing in the middle of nowhere.

"That giant rock. It's the magnetic center of the desert." Katara said.

"A rock, yes! Lets go!" Toph said.

"Maybe we can find some sand benders." Aang said, with malicious intent in his voice.

Dawn came, and the group approached the giant rock.

"Ah, land." Toph said. She fell on the ground, back first, and made rock angel. When she was done, the group investigated the cave systems on the top of the mesa.

"I think my head's starting to clear up." Sokka said. He noticed something gooey on the wall, and made a grab at it.

"Disgusting!" he shouted, spitting it out, after eating it. "It taste like rotten penguin meat!"

"You've been acid tripping on cactus juice the whole time, and now you decide to eat something off the wall? What the fuck is wrong with you!?" Katara asked.

Olivier wondered the same thing.

"I have a natural curiosity." Sokka said.

 _How do you know what rotten penguin meat taste like?_ Olivier thought.

"I don't think this is a natural cave. Something made this." Toph said.

"Yeah. Look at the shape." Aang said.

An angry buzzing noise was heard, and everyone ran outside. For a moment, Olivier wished that Roy Mustang, the flame alchemist was here. He'd take care of them.

 _Crap! I'm wishing fuhrer bastard was here! Damn this mission!_

"We have to get out of here! I'm out of water!" Katara shouted, as the large wasps circled them, ready for the kill.

Sokka ran into one spot, and started swinging his machete wildly.

"Sokka, there's nothing there." Katara said.

"Oh. I guess my head is not as clear as I thought." Sokka said.

"Now you figure it out?" Olivier asked. She watched as a buzzard wasp grabbed Momo, and Aang gave chase. Everyone else ran down the mountain, as Toph took out some of the buzzard wasps, but many more closed in.

Just as death seemed inevitable, the sand began to erupt like geysers, knocking the buzzards away. The sand benders appeared and Aang faced them, ready for a fight.

"What are you doing in our land with a sand sailer? From the looks of it, you stole it from the Hami tribe."

Olivier growled and pulled out her sword. The nerve of the bastard! They were on the verge of death, and these nomads dare insult them?

"We found it abandoned in the desert. We're traveling with the Avatar." Katara said, motioning to Aang. The leader's eyes widened in surprise. "Our Bison was stolen, and we have to get to Ba Sing Se."

A young man came up and addressed them in an aggressive tone, which made Olivier suspicious. Why would he get angry?

"You accuse our people of theft, while you ride in on a stolen sailer?"

"Quiet Ghasuin. They did not accuse us of anything. If what they said is true, we must give them hospitality." The leader said.

"Sorry, father." Ghansuin said. Toph's eyes narrowed.

"I know him. He's the one that took Appa." Toph said.

"You sure?" Katara asked.

"I'm sure. I never forget a voice." Toph said.

Aang walked forward, staff in a threatening positon.

"You stole Appa. Where is he?" he asked.

"They're lying. They're the thieves!" Ghasuin said.

Aang sent a sharp air blast and destroyed of the sailers.

"Where is my bison?" he demanded. "You tell me where he is, right now."

Aang then destroyed another sailer. The father looked at his son in worry.

"What did you do?" he asked.

"It wasn't me!" he stammered.

"You said to muzzle him!" Toph shouted.

"You muzzled Appa?" Aang growled. His tattoo's than glowed bright white, and his voice became very deep, and very threatening. He then destroyed the last sailer.

"Nice one, Aang. You just killed us all." Olivier said, amazed at the stupidity of the Avatar. They had no way of leaving the desert at this moment, unless they were at the end of desert itself, then it wouldn't be that much of a problem.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know it belonged to the Avatar!" the son said, frightened.

"Tell me where Appa is!" Aang threatened.

"I traded him to some merchents! He's probably in Ba Sing Se right now. Please, we'll help you anyway we can!" Ghasuin said, almost begging for mercy.

But Aang wouldn't hear of it. Consumed by pain and anger, he rose up in a wind sphere, churning the dust around them.

"Just go! Run!" Sokka said, grabbing Toph and started to run. Olivier quickly ran as well. She read bits and pieces of the Avatar State, and wondered just how devastating such power could be.

"He's gonna get us all killed!" Olivier shouted.

"I know. Run!" Sokka reiterated.

Katara didn't run, but grabbed Aang. Aang's anger met a look of sad sympathy on Katara's face. After a few frightening minutes, the dust settled, and Aang calmed down. Olivier walked back, sword in hand, weary of the Avatar. When all seemed quiet, she exhaled.

"Glad that's over." She muttered.

"Indeed." Sokka said.


	4. Chapter 4 the serpents pass

Ch 4 the serpents pass

It was quiet. Olivier went thru her pack, and put away some of her clothes, and jumped into the water. After walking in that godforsaken desert, the water felt cool and refreshing. After a few minutes of relief, she swam towards the shore. Quickly putting on her clothes, and fastening her sword, she heard the rustling noise. She pulled out her sword, and moved to intercept

"It's me." Katara said, hands up.

"What do you want?" Olivier asked.

"We're moving to Ba Sing Se. Thought you should know." Katara said.

"How's Aang doing?" Olivier asked.

"He says he's doing fine, but I think otherwise." Katara said.

"He better get over it soon, because we got a war to fight." Olivier said.

Olivier followed Katara back to the group, where they met 3 refugees. A middle aged man and two women. One of them was visibly pregnant.

"Hello there, fellow refugees." The man said.

"You guys heading to Ba Sing Se?" Aang asked.

"Sure are. We want to get their before my wife Ying has her baby." The man said.

"Great. We can take the serpents pass together." Katara said.

"Are you nuts? Only the most desperate take that dangerous route." Ying said.

"Dangerous route. Great pick, Sokka." Toph said, punching Sokka in the arm.

"Well, we are desperate." Sokka said.

"You should come with us to the Full Moon bay. It's hidden, so the fire nation can't find it." The husband said.

"Peaceful ferry, or dangerous pass." Katara pondered sarcastically.

Full Moon Bay

Near Ba Sing Se

"I can't believe how many people's lives were uprooted by the fire nation." Katara said.

Olivier snorted. These kids had no intel about the war whatsoever. If this was the amount of refugees on a daily basis, than the fire nation was very close to the capital. Olivier calculated that the earth kingdom had weeks, if not months of fighting left.

"My cabbages!" was heard, as a large platypus bear destroyed a cart of cabbages, leaving the owner in distress. Olivier paid no mind to such things. Her only objective was reaching Ba Sing Se with the Avatar and his friends.

"Next!" The ticket lady said.

"Four tickets to Ba Sing Se." Aang said.

"Passports?" the ticket lady asked.

"No one told us we had to have passports." Aang said.

"Don't you know who he is? He's the Avatar." Sokka said.

"I see fifty Avatar's a day. Not impressive and besides. No animals allowed. Do I need to call security?" the ticket lady threatened.

Olivier watched and waited. Toph came up, and the ticket lady was sucking her up. Armstrong, Beifong. Both names carried a lot of weight in their respective countries.

"We scammed that lady good." Sokka said. Suddenly, a security guard grabbed Sokka.

"Tickets and passports please." The women threatened. Olivier drew her sword, and grabbed the guard.

"We already got tickets and passports. You're barking up the wrong tree." Olivier said, putting her sword to the guard's neck.

"Who are you?" The guard asked.

"General Armstrong. You got a problem?" Olivier asked.

"No. No problem." The guard said, backing down.

"Wait. I recognize that voice. Suki?" Sokka asked.

"Sokka." Suki said, hugging him. "It's good to see you again."

Catching up on past time, it seemed they were on track to Ba Sing Se, when life had other plans.

"Avatar, you have to help us. Someone took our passports, tickets, everything's gone!" Ying said.

Aang went to talk to the ticket lady, and was refused.

"Next!" she shouted, stamping Aang's head.

"Don't worry. I'll lead you thru the serpents pass." Aang said.

As they left the docks, Suki also joined up. Olivier looked at her new uniform. It looked more like a Geisha than a combat uniform. Olivier wondered if it was possible for Suki to fight in such clothing, especially the dress.

Serpents Pass

Earth Kingdom

The found themselves standing at a H-structure, with a message scribbled into it.

"Abandon hope." Katara said.

"Whoever wrote this, was a coward. They didn't have the balls to move on when it got hard. You keep going, no matter what." Olivier said, walking on the steep mountain.

Suki then told the group of valuable Intel.

"The fire nation controls the western late. Rumor has it that they're working on a massive project, and they don't want anyone to know it." She said.

Olivier let the words settle in her mind. Rumors like that would reckon a preemptive strike to make sure this weapon never saw service. And if the fire nation controlled the western lake, than they were closer to Ba Sing Se than she originally thought. Strike months of combat left. The earth kingdom only had weeks of fighting left. And the Avatar thought he'd just waltz into Ba Sing Se and tell the earth king about the solar eclipse. Oliver already knew that the plan was doomed from the start, thanks to the immense complexities, but this recent news, made sure it was impossible. Ba Sing Se could fall in a matter of weeks, if not days. The eclipse was due in a few months.

A fire nation cruiser was seen moving on patrol. Olivier hoped that the crew wouldn't notice them. If they did see the Avatar and the group, they probably didn't consider them a threat.

The cliff gave way, and the man almost fell to his death, but Toph stopped it with her earth bending.

The cruiser fired a ball of fire, right towards them.

"Get moving!" Olivier ordered, as the fire ball hit the mountain.

The ship launched more fire balls, and while Aang deflected one back towards the cruiser, a rock slide occurred, almost crushing Suki and Sokka. Thanks to Toph's quick thinking, the rocks were stopped from crushing them, though Sokka didn't acknowledge Toph's help.

Night came, and everyone decided to camp. Olivier went thru the various maps she had, and threw most of them away. She settled on one map of the earth kingdom, and looked at it. She saw the western lake Suki was talking about, and knew how close the fire nation was to winning the war. These kids no chance in hell of winning it at all.

"Damn it. If I could get word to Mustang, I could get the eastern army over here, and destroy the fire nation." Olivier said.

The next morning, they reached a divide in the water. Katara gathered everyone together, and performed a small scale of dividing the sea. With Aang's help, they created an air bubble, and walked on the ocean floor.

It would have been flawless, but Momo, who should be renamed the moron, decided to take as swim, and came face to face with a giant eel serpent. That was very angry.

"Holy shit!" Olivier shouted, seeing the sea monster.

The monster broke the water dome, and if it wasn't for Tophs quick thinking in raising them up, everyone would be dead.

"Suki, you know about giant sea monsters! Make it go away!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Just because I live near the Unagi, doesn't mean I'm an expert." Suki retorted.

Sokka than grabbed Momo, and offered him up as food.

"Oh giant serpent, please accept this humble and tasty offering. Thank you."

"Are you really that stupid?" Olivier asked.

Aang got the serpents attention was a blast of air, and lifted off to fight it.

"Katara, get everyone across!"

Katara made an ice bridge, and everyone ran across it. Everyone except Toph.

"Toph, come on. It's just ice!" Sokka shouted.

"I'll stay here." Toph said.

Olivier ran on the ice and grabbed Toph, than ran back across the ice. The serpent slammed its tail on the ice bridge, causing both to fall in the water.

"Shit." Olivier growled, as she dragged Toph to the other side of the river. Meanwhile, Aang and Katara had the serpent in a maelstrom, and slammed it against the cliffs, knocking it out.

"5 bucks says something goes wrong." Olivier said, as they headed to Ba Sing Se.

And it happened. Ying groaned in pain, and clutched her stomach.

"The baby. It's coming." She said in agony.

"Can't you hold it in or something?" Sokka asked. Olivier gripped her forehead. How stupid could he be?

"Sokka. Calm down. I've helped gran-gran deliver plenty of babies." Katara said.

"This isn't the same as delivering an artic seal. This is a real human thing!" Sokka ranted.

"It's called a baby. And I've delivered plenty before. Aang, get some rags. Sokka, water. Toph, I need an earth tent. A big one. Suki, come with me." Katara said.

Olivier heard Ying in pain, as she attempted to push the baby out. Sokka came in with the water, and Olivier followed, a smirk on her face.

"And push!" Katara instructed.

Ying screamed in agony, as her baby came out. Sokka than promptly fainted. Olivier looked at him, and shook her head.

"If you can't stomach a baby coming out, how are you gonna stomach war?" She muttered.

"It's a girl." Katara said, as they wrapped the baby.

"What should we name her?" Ying asked.

Aang than spoke up.

"I've been going thru a hard time lately. But you've made me, hopeful again." He said.

"I know what I want to name our child. Hope." Ying said.

"That's a perfect name. Hope." Aang said.

As Aang headed towards the city ahead of everyone, Suki headed back, not before kissing Sokka. As Olivier observed the scene, she was reminded of the soldiers at Briggs fortress, and remembered the dead. No matter. She survived the promised day, she'll survive this war.


	5. Chapter 5 the drill

Ch 5 the Drill

The group headed towards Ba Sing Se. Olivier was skeptical about it. Having been in some border skirmishes with Drakma, and that big war with the Homunculi, she was rather cynical about city being impenetrable, as the refugees claimed it was.

Everyone noticed Aang coming back to them.

"Aang, what are you doing here? I thought you were looking for Appa." Katara said.

"I was. But something caught my attention. Something big." Aang said.

Aang and Toph earth bended everyone to the top of the wall.

"What's so big that Appa has to wait?" Sokka asked.

"That." Aang said, as everyone got a view of the fire nation drill, escorted by 10 tundra tanks. Olivier reached into her sack, and pulled out a binoculars. Looking at the drill, she cursed.

"Damn it."

"What?" Aang asked.

"This city will fall today." Olivier said.

"We're at the city, and still we're not safe. No one is." Ying said.

"What are you doing here, civilians aren't allowed on the wall." An earth kingdom soldier said.

Aang spoke in an authoritative voice that was out of character for him.

"I'm the Avatar. Take me to whoever is in charge." Aang said.

Olivier was surprised that the soldier followed his request. If it was Briggs fortress, the kid would have been turned back, or throw into a jail.

Eventually, they were led to a section of the wall that had a roof overhead, and was supported by arches.

The general sat in a chair, and looked too confident for his own good.

"Thank you for meeting, Avatar, but your help is not needed." The general said.

"Not needed?" Aang asked.

"Not needed." The general said. Olivier rolled her eyes. Because of his incompetence, not taking the Avatar's help, when he needed everyone to man the wall, the wall could fall in less than a day.

"The fire nation cannot break thru this wall. Many have tried, but all have failed." He said.

"Let me tell you something, General." Olivier said, catching his attention. "The fire nation is right at the door steps of the city. They've spent 100 years taking the earth kingdom. After repeated failures, they'll start getting crafty and use out of the box weapons and technology to bring down the wall. And they're coming at you with brute force, which means strength in numbers, and mechanized infantry."

"The Dragon of the west broke thru." Toph added.

"Technically, yes. But he was quickly expunged. That's why it's called Ba Sing Se. The impenetrable city." The general said.

Olivier looked aside the wall, and noticed that they had plenty of boulders, and since they were sitting on plain earth, ammo was infinite. But that drill was made of metal, and Olivier was betting that it was very thick. Would have to be to sustain a drilling action against the wall, and take on anything the earth benders would thru at it.

"Thanks for the tour. We still got the drill to deal with." Toph curtly said.

"Not to worry. To stop it, I've sent a special team platoon of earth benders called the terra team." The general said.

"Terra team. I like it. Catchy name." Sokka said.

Olivier put her face in her hands, clearly annoyed with Sokka's stupidity. She looked thru the binoculars, and looked at the terra team. From what she could see, they had no weapons to counter the steel and weight of the drill. Even if they took out all the tanks and defenses with no casualties, they simply didn't have enough manpower to flip the drill. Olivier looked at the drill again. On second thought, flipping the drill would be impractical. It would just keep marching towards the wall.

The platoon started by knocking several tanks aside, and launched a pincer attack on the drill. Large stone pikes were thrusted at the drill, but the thick metal remained impervious. The drill continued to march forward, and the troops were quickly caught off guard as knives were thrown at them. Olivier adjusted her view, and saw two teenage girls attacking them. While one was throwing knives at them, the other one wearing pink, quickly maneuvered amongst the soldiers, and brought them down with a series of nerve attacks.

"We're doomed!" the general shouted, flailing his arms.

"Get a hold of yourself!" Sokka exclaimed, slapping the general.

"Maybe you'd like the avatar's help now?" Toph dryly asked.

"Yes please." The general humbly said.

"How are we gonna stop that thing?" Aang asked.

"I already have a plan." Olivier said, putting the binoculars away.

"What is it?" Sokka asked.

"We destroy it from the inside out. Seeing as we can't stop it from the outside, it's our only option." Olivier said.

The group was crouched in one of the trenches, ready to launch their attack.

"Once I whip up some cover, you won't be able to see. So stay close to me." Toph advised.

The blind bandit sent a massive amount of debris, creating the cloud cover they needed.

"Run!" Toph shouted, heading towards the drill.

Inside the drill's command center, they saw the dust cover.

"Hey, look at that dust cover. It's so poofy." Ty Lee said. "Poof."

"Don't worry, princess. I'm sure it's nothing." War minister Quinn said.

Azula gave him a quizzical look, disagreeing with him. Infiltrators could come in thru the cloud, and potentially disable or destroy the drill from the inside.

Toph quickly created a hole, and everyone jumped in.

"It's so dark in here, I can't see." Sokka complained.

"Oh no. What a nightmare." Toph sarcastically bit back.

"Sorry." Sokka said.

Toph brought them up directly underneath the drill. Olivier marveled at the sheer size. It must have taken them many years to make this.

"Their." Sokka said, pointing to an opening.

Everyone got in, except Toph.

"Toph, come on." Sokka said.

"No way am I going in that metal monster. I can't bend in there. I'll try to slow it down up here." Toph said.

"Okay. Good luck." Sokka said.

They moved inside the drill, finding no resistance. That puzzled Olivier. If the troops inside knew they were here, they were walking into a potential ambush.

"I need a plan of this machine. Some schematics that show what the inside looks like. Than we can find its weak points." Sokka said.

Sokka than pulled out his machete, and cut off a pipe handle.

"What are you doing? Someone will hear that!" Aang said, as steam filled the place.

"That's the point. A machine this big will teams of engineers to run it. And when something breaks…" Sokka said.

"They come to fix it." Katara said.

"Not bad." Olivier said.

Hiding, they saw an engineer come in, only for Katara to water bend the steam, and freeze him.

"This will do. Thanks." Sokka said, taking the schematics with him.

Sokka looked at the schematics, showing parts of the drill.

"It looks like the drill is made up of two parts. The inner part where we are now, and the outer section. It looks like both parts are connected by these braces. If we cut thru them, the entire thing will collapse." Sokka said.

Sokka led them to the support struts. The real object was much thicker than the paper suggested.

"Wow. It's a lot bigger in person. We're going to have to work pretty hard to cut through that." Sokka said.

"What's this 'we' stuff? Aang and I are going to be doing all the work." Katara said.

"Look, I'm the plan guy. You two are the cut stuff up with water bending guys. Together, we're team Avatar." Sokka said.

Aang and Katara worked on cutting thru the brace. And it was truly hard work.

"Come on team. We're almost…" Sokka said, but quit talking when Katara threatened to hit him with the water whip. "I mean, you're almost there."

They managed to cut thru the first brace, but both benders were tired, unable to continue. A creaking noise from the drill made Sokka hopeful.

"You hear that, we made it through. We got to get out of here." He said.

As they left, an announcement sent chills up their spine.

"Congratulations crew. We've made contact with the wall of Ba Sing Se. Start the countdown to victory." The war minister said.

"Fuck!" Olivier shouted.

"This is bad, real bad." Katara said.

"We're putting everything we got into busting these things." Sokka said.

Aang got an inspiration.

"Maybe we don't need to cut thru them. Toph's been teaching me that you shouldn't give a hundred percent of your attack onto one point. You have to be quick and accurate. Make multiple strikes across your target, and when your opponent is reeling, deliver the final blow. His weight becomes his downfall. Literally."

"So we just have to weaken the braces." Katara said.

"And I'll deliver the final blow." Aang said.

Katara and Aang worked with renew vigor, cutting several braces at a quickened pace.

"Now Aang just needs to DUCK!" Sokka yelled, as a blue fire ball screamed towards him.

"You're right, Azula. It is the Avatar. And friends." Ty Lee said, winking at Sokka.

"Hey." Sokka said, waving his hand, instead of bugging out.

Olivier quickly looked at the trio sent to stop them. The middle girl had the aura and demeanor of being in charge. One had a braided ponytail, and had an obsession for pink. The other was slightly taller. She wore loose clothing, and had a dour look on her face.

Olivier's aura was different. The color surrounding her was red. Ty Lee couldn't help but sense she was surrounded by a layers of ice and cold, and saw an army moving across it like it was nothing. She was driven and determined.

Running away, the group split up. Sokka and Katara ran to the left and to an exit, while Olivier and Aang headed right to destroy the drill.

Aang ran really fast thru the group of workers. Olivier hid, and waited for Azula to run past her.

On the drill, Aang found a spot to start cutting, only to be bombarded by boulders.

"General Song! Tell your troops to stop firing rocks down here!" Aang yelled.

"Soldiers, whatever you do, don't stop firing rocks down there." Song ordered.

Dodging the rocks, Aang started cutting away with the water. And minutes later, he was slowly reaching his breaking point.

"What would I give to be a metal bender." He muttered.

Momo screamed, as a blue fire ball flew towards him.

"Momo, get out of here!" Aang ordered, as he faced down his opponent, who was Azula.

Azula fired the first shot, which Aang avoided. He retaliated with water, but Azula's precise fire bending evaporated the water. Running out of options, Aang grabbed a falling boulder with his air bending, and threw it at Azula.

Dropping into the splits, Azula dodged it, and continued her attack. Aang pulled up a defense of rocks, and started firing rocks at Azula, but to no effect. Azula fired one large blast of blue fire, and destroyed the rock barricade, and sent Aang flying against the wall, knocking him out.

Azula grabbed the Avatar, and put him against the wall. She has bested him in combat for the second time, and primed a fire ball to scar the Avatar for life, and show the world that she had bested him. Unfortunately, her moment of victory was cut short, as a thick hand grabbed hers from behind, and flung her across the drill like a rag doll.

"Lets see you push around someone who can fight." Olivier growled, pulling out her Armstrong sword, passed down the family line for generations.

Every eye was watching the two combatants. The Ice Queen, and the fire princess. It was two main predators circling each other, eager to murder each other in the most gruesome way possible. Azula looked at Olivier, trying to figure her out. She couldn't put her hand on it, because she could sniff the fear from anyone else she faced, but the blond sword wielding opponent had no fear. She just wanted to destroy Azula, and toss her ashes to the wind.

"You're a brave one. Too bad you won't live long to inspire anyone." Azula taunted.

Oliver said nothing, but quickly attacked Azula. She ran towards her, dodging a fire ball in the process. She skidded on her back, and stabbed the sword in the drill's metal, launching her forward.

Using the momentum, she kicked Azula real hard, a sickening crack was hard. Aula gripped her jaw, wondering if it was broken. Olivier took advantage, and quickly body slammed her on the drill. Azula fired a blast of flame, causing Olivier to duck. Azula pushed Olivier off, and got up to fight.

But Olivier wasn't one to back down. She dodged the fire balls Azula was throwing at her, counting on Azula draining herself down. Olivier threw a knife at Azula, and got her arm.

"Fuck!" Azula shouted, yanking the knife out. When she looked to see Olivier, Olivier ran towards her full tilt. She grabbed Azula and threw her across the drill like a rag doll. She approached Azula, ready to kill her, when something caught her attention. She saw Aang running down the wall and heading towards the stone wedge he put in the X-marking on the drill.

"Oh shit." Olivier muttered. She ran off the drill, and just in time. Slurry and shrapnel fell of the sides, as the drill was out of commission.

"We lost." Mai said, opening a rear hatch, seeing Ty Lee and Azula, covered with the sludge.

An earth bender elevated Olivier onto the wall, where she heard Sokka discuss team names with his friends. Looking at the now destroyed drill, Olivier said two words while putting away her sword.

"Mission accomplished."


	6. Chapter 6 1984

Ch 6 1984

As they traveled on a monorail towards the city, Olivier looked at the vast amount of agrarian land. It then occurred to her just how close the city could have fallen. Even if the fire nation didn't have enough troops to breach the second wall, they could simply set the fields on fire, and starve the citizens to death.

"Look, the inner wall!" Katara excitingly said. "I can't believe we made it to Ba Sing Se in one piece."

"Don't jinx it." Sokka said, skeptical. "We can still be attacked by some giant exploding fire nation spoon. Or find that the city's been submerged in an ocean of killer shrimp!"

"You've been hitting the cactus juice again?" Toph asked.

"I'm just saying, weird stuff happens to us." Sokka said, as a man sucking a piece of corn sat down between the two of them.

As they passed the second wall, the full scope of the city came into view. While the gang was impressed by the view, Olivier wasn't. She'd seen the same thing in Amestris.

Toph wasn't too pleased.

"Back in the city. Great."

"What's the problem? This is amazing." Sokka said.

"Just a bunch of walls and rules. You wait. You'll get sick of it in a couple of days." Toph pointed out.

Olivier noticed a women standing just in front of them. She walked towards the group, with a large and slightly odd smile.

"Hello. I'm Joo Dee!" the women excitingly said. "I have been given the great honor of showing the Avatar around Ba Sing Se. And you must be Sokka, Toph, and Katara. Welcome to our wonderful city."

Olivier knew something was off about that women. It was as if she had recited the lines over and over. Sokka went up to her, and repeated what he said.

"Maybe you missed what I heard. We have important information about the war. We need to talk to the king."

Joo Dee's reply wasn't helpful. In fact, he was being outright ignored.

"You're in Ba Sing Se right now. Everyone is safe here." She said.

"That's bullshit. The fire nation was this close to breaking thru the wall, and killing everyone in this city." Olivier said, though the words went past Joo Dee's head.

Moments later, they were in a large carriage pulled by ostrich horses. Olivier was starting to get annoyed with Joo Dee.

"This is the lower ring." Joo Dee said.

"What's the wall for?" Katara asked.

"Ba Sing Se has many walls. There are the ones outside protecting us, and the ones inside, that help maintain order. This is where our newest arrivals live, as well as our craftsmen and artisans. It's so quaint and lovely."

Olivier looked outside, and saw slums. The people were doing no better here, than those outside the wall. And Joo Dee said the inner walls maintain order. Order as in, lets keep the refugees bottled up in the slums. Out of sight, and out of mind. Olivier started to take down notes, along with her thoughts. She came to the conclusion that Ba Sing Se was more of a police state.

As they entered the middle ring, Sokka snapped.

"Yes, we met a professor from the Ba Sing Se University. He took us to an ancient underground library where we discovered information about the war this as absolutely important for the king to hear!"

"Isn't history fascinating?" Joo Dee said, ignoring what Sokka said.

"Is that women deaf, she hears only half what I say." Sokka said.

"It's called getting handled. Get used to it." Toph said.

Soon, they were in the upper ring, which was the smallest ring in the city. They passed by an enormous building.

"What's inside that building?" Katara asked.

Three men looked from inside the building at the group with much suspicion. Olivier looked back at them, and gripped her sword.

"And who are those mean looking guys?" Sokka asked.

"Don't you know? That's the people's police." Olivier said, with much sarcasm and cynicism.

"Inside is the royal palace. Those men are agents of the Dai Li, the cultural authority of Ba Sing Se. They are the guardians of our traditions." Joo Dee said.

Olivier looked at Joo Dee with suspicion. She looked at the eyes, and noticed that they weren't behaving like a normal eye would.

"Here we are, your new home." Joo Dee said.

While it wasn't the Armstrong mansion, it was impressive.

"And more good news. Your request for an audience with the earth king is being processed and should be put thru in about a month. Quicker than usual." Joo Dee said.

"A month?" Sokka asked.

"6-8 weeks in fact." Joo Dee said.

Inside the house, Olivier put her stuff in a room and searched for her books. She quickly found the three books she found.

 _Idiots guide to Utopias_

 _Idiots guide to Dystopias_

 _1935_ (FMA version of 1984)

Grabbing some food, Olivier poured over the books and the notes she had taken. So far, she was proven that the city was a police state. If the soldiers on the outer wall really knew what was going on in Ba Sing Se, they'd probably defect to the fire nation.

"Olivier, you coming?" Aang asked.

"Yeah, sure." She said, grabbing her sword.

First stop, was a market place. It was crowded with animals.

"I haven't heard of a flying bison. I didn't even know there were any." The owner said.

"If someone wanted to sell a stolen animal without anyone knowing, where would they go?" Aang asked.

"Where's the black market? Who runs it? Come on. You know." Sokka said, pointing to him.

Olivier caught that Joo Dee was shaking her head towards the owner.

"Uh… that would be illegal. You need to leave. Your lemur is harassing my sparrowkeets."

They tried their hand at the university, and talked to a student.

"I've never seen any sand benders or nomads either. You should try professor Zei. He teaches the class on desert cultures."

"Right. And who could we ask about the war with the fire nation?" Sokka asked.

The student grew nervous, and looked at Joo Dee. She shook her head side to side, and quit when Sokka turned to see.

For Olivier, that confirmed her suspicions. The government of Ba Sing Se knew about the war, knew about Appa, and didn't want anyone to know. If someone spoke about it, they would be thrown into prison, never seen again.

At their house, they noticed their neighbor quickly duck into his house.

"Hey, come with me." Sokka said.

The group knocked on the door, and it opened. The owner only stuck his head out.

"You're the Avatar. I heard you were in town. I'm Pong."

"Nice to meet you Pong." Aang said.

"So Pong, what's going on with this city? Why is everyone here so scared to talk about the war?" Sokka asked.

"War? Scared? What do you mean?" Pong asked, now sweating in fear.

"I can feel you shaking." Toph deadpanned.

"Look, I'm just a minor government official. I've waited three years to get this house. I don't want to get into trouble." He said.

"Get in trouble with who?" Katara asked.

"Listen. Stay away from the Dai Li. And don't mention the war here at all." Pong said, before closing the door.

Olivier went to her room, and closed the door and shut the curtains. She poured over the books, and wrote some new information provided by Pong. Don't mention the war. Stay away from the Dai Li. They must be dangerous to install such fear in the population. And Joo Dee. That was a strange case. Every time the gang was trying to get a lead, she blocked it. Either she's working for the regime, or has been brainwashed, lobotomized, or something else.

Next morning, Katara came in with news.

"I know how we'll see the earth king!" she said.

"How, one does not just pop in on the earth king." Toph said, mimicking Joo Dee's voice.

"The king is having a party for his pet bear." Katara said.

"You mean Platypus bear?" Aang asked.

"It just says bear." Katara said.

After going thru the different bear like creatures on the planet, it didn't say anything about it.

"This place, is weird." Toph said.

"Anyway, the place will be packed. We can sneak in with the crowd." Katara said.

"Won't work." Toph said.

"Why not?" Katara asked.

"Well, no offense to you simple country folk, but a real society crowd will spot you a mile away. You've got no manners." Toph said.

"There's also another issue." Olivier said, sharpening her sword and knives.

"This is for the king. There will be dozens, if not hundreds of military guards, police, and the Dai Li. You won't be able to get past all the guards. And even if you do, why would the earth king be interested in a small group of children? He'll be busy with something else." Olivier said.

"But I'm the Avatar." Aang said.

"How stupid can you be? He doesn't care if you're the avatar, or a brigadier general. He hasn't heard of you personally. He won't be interested in seeing you. Besides, you might be thrown into prison or killed on the spot. Anyone can impose someone important. Not that you are." Olivier spat.

But Olivier's warning fell on deaf ears. Toph and Katara dressed up to head inside the palace. Olivier weighed her options, and knew she had to accompany them. If the shit hit the fan, she would have to rescue them.

Standing in line, they approached a guard, and managed to get in, thanks to Olivier's rank as a 4 star general.

"Glad you're on our side." Katara said.

They looked around, and saw hundreds of people. Olivier went to a table, and filled a plate with food.

"What, I'm hungry. After the desert, and fighting Azula, I'm on the verge of exhaustion." She said, sitting in a chair and eating some of the food. It also gave her the opportunity to scan the room, and search out for Dai Li, the king, and Aang and Sokka.

The kids meet each other, and quickly talked.

"You see the king?" Sokka asked.

"No, Sokka. He could be anyone." Katara said.

Joo Dee appeared, and quickly talked to them.

"What are you doing here? You have to leave immediately, or we will all be in trouble!" Joo Dee said.

Now that was interesting. Now she was freaking out. Olivier knew that palace was heavily guarded, and it was possible that they were watching for potential assassinations.

"Not until we see the king." Sokka countered, blocking Joo Dee with his food trey.

"You don't understand. You must go!" Joo Dee urgently said, and pushed against Sokka. Sokka fell against Aang, and Aang let the large jug of juice fall from his hands, and drench a women.

After Aang dried her with air bending, his cover was compromised.

"The Avatar. I didn't know he would be here."

Joo Dee's expression went to pure dread. Aang grinned as everyone has their eyes on him. Sokka quickly came up with an idea.

"You keep their attention while I look for the king."

Aang quickly got the attention of the party guests, by balancing himself on a pot, and holding various drinks in a sphere via water bending. Olivier finished her plate and went to grab some desert and sweets. She knew this was going wrong. Whatever the kids had in place, was no longer working.

This wasn't how you conducted an operation. Olivier doubted that the kids had plans for an escape. She spotted a curtained palanquin, carried by eight guards. She surmised that it was the king. The gang went to see the king, but the Dai Li quickly caught them. Sokka was intercepted by two agents, who pinned his arms behind him.

Katara and Toph were captured in another manner. Dai Li agents behind them launched clay gloves, and wrapped them around their head and mouths. They were quickly pulled into the shadows. Olivier put the plate down, and grabbed two butter knifes. She stayed in the shadows, keeping her back to the wall, ready for an attack.

She saw Aang follow a man, and they entered a room. Probably where Aang's friends were. Inching closer to the large doors, she had a feeling that she was being watched. Turning around, she saw a Dai Li agent attempting to sneak up on her. The agent was stunned, not expecting his target to turn around. Moving fast, Olivier stabbed the agent in the heart, killing him immediately.

Quickly spinning around, she killed another agent. She moved the bodies aside and headed back to the double doors. Placing an ear on the door, she heard them talking.

"What's most important to his royal majesty is maintaining the cultural heritage of Ba Sing Se. All his duties relate to issuing decrees on such matters. It's my job to oversee the rest of the city's resources. Including the military." Long Feng said.

"So the king is just a figurehead." Katara said.

"He's your puppet!" Toph exclaimed.

"Oh no, no. His majesty's an icon. A god to his people. He can't sully his changes with the hourly changes of an endless war." Long Feng said.

Olivier gritted her teeth in anger. So he was the one behind the Utiopa plan. Silencing talk about the war. But the defenses can't hold forever, that Olivier knew. After 100 years, the fire nation was getting real close to taking the city. The drill was just one of many experiments the fire nation had developed.

"But we found out about a solar eclipse that'll render the fire nation powerless. You could lead an invasion…"

Long Feng would hear none of it.

"Enough! I don't want to hear your ridiculous plans. It is the strict policy of Ba Sing Se that the war not be mentioned. Constant news of an escalating war would throw the citizens of Ba Sing Se into a panic. Our economy would be ruined. Our peaceful way of life, our traditions would disappear. In silencing talk of conflict, Ba Sing Se remains a peaceful orderly utopia. The last one on earth." Long Feng said.

So that was the reason behind everything. Why everyone was afraid of the Dai Li. They would be silenced. The refugees were all shoved into the lower ring, and denied access to the upper two rings. Out of sight, and out of mind. No one in the upper rings ever knew about the war. And those that had some knowledge of it, were too scared of the Dai Lee to do anything about it.

"Utopia, it's a fucking dystopia." Olivier muttered.

Next conversation told Olivier of how naïve the kids really were. Long Feng was a powerful man, and had infinite resources at his disposal. Something the kids didn't have. They just didn't get the fact that Long Feng didn't give a damn about them, and would run things as he saw fit. Any opposition, would be crushed, and never rise again. Aang boldly stated his disagreement, causing the general to roll her eyes.

"I'll tell them. I'll make sure everyone knows!"

Long Feng responded with ominous words.

"Until now, you've been treated as our honored guests. But from now on, you'll be watched by Dai Li agents. If you mention the war to anyone, you'll be expelled from the city. I understand you're looking for your bison. It would be a shame if you failed to complete your quest. Now Joo Dee will show you home."

The bastard! He knew where Appa was. Probably had him kept prisoner somewhere in the city. Talk about serious black mail. He had the Avatar by the balls, and could control him any way he saw fit.

The children looked at Joo Dee with faces of surprise. The woman was not the same one they met entering the city.

"Come with me." Joo Dee said.

"What happened to Joo Dee?" Katara asked.

"I'm Joo Dee. I'll be your host as long as you're in our wonderful city." She said with a bow.

Having enough, Olivier executed a door breaching maneuver. She kicked the doors hard enough to open them. She entered the room, sword in one hand, throwing knife in the other. She was met with a look of surprise, except Toph who said "Look, the cavalry is here."

"What is the meaning of this?" Long Feng asked.

"Crashing a party. Takes a big man to threaten kids, doesn't it?" Olivier asked.

"You've been listening. You will pay the consequences." Long Feng said.

"You don't know me at all. I can tell you're a corrupted prick who needs to be removed from his spot. You're also incapable of thinking ahead. What will happen with the fire nation breaks thru the wall? I was on the wall yesterday, and didn't see any advanced weapons to stop them." Olivier said.

"I can make you disappear." Long Feng threatened.

"Your men already tried that. Didn't work. And I have a warning for you as well." Olivier said, walking up to Long Feng, and glared into his eyes. "Make one aggressive move towards me or these kids, I will split you open from testicle to forehead. I'll cut you open, pour salt all over the wounds, peel your eyelids back, and leave you to fry in the desert. Try anything, and I will kill you."


	7. Chapter 7 lake laogai

Ch 7 Lake Laogi

Olivier exited the house and randomly walked around the city. She bought some detailed maps of the city, and made her way to a weapons store.

"I'd like to buy broadswords, and 4 scimitar knives." Olivier said.

"Anything else?" the owner asked.

"Yeah. Can you engrave words on the swords?" Olivier asked.

"Of course." The owner said.

As the owner went back to grab the weapons, Olivier smirked. She already planned what she would write on the blades.

"What's with the swords?" Sokka asked, as Olivier walked into the house, her new weapons in hand.

"Bought them. These are shorter, so they'll be more useful in the close quarters of the city." Olivier said, drawing out a broad sword.

"What does it say?" Aang asked, seeing the letters on the blade.

Olivier showed them. One of the blades had a grim message. **If you can read this, one of us is already dead.** The other had a lewd message. **Free anal/colonoscopy.**

"What's anal?" Aang asked.

Sokka and Olivier looked at the bald monk. They decided not to tell him.

"You'll learn later." Sokka said.

"What are you drawing?" Olivier asked

"I'm drawing Appa." Sokka said.

"That's not him at all." Aang said, reaching into his shirt, and pulling out papers, showing a professional drawing of the animal.

"Wow. I'm impressed." Olivier said, noting just how fine the details were. Apparently the Avatar was a good artist.

Aang and Momo left to distribute the pamphlets. Olivier knew that they would run into trouble, long before they ran into help.

"This is gonna hurt us." Olivier said.

"What do you mean?" Toph asked.

"I get the feeling Long Feng will try to stop this right away." Olivier said.

She was proven right, as Joo Dee appeared, surprising everyone.

"What happened to you? Did the Dai Li throw you in jail?" Sokka asked.

"What? Jail? Of course not. I was sent on a vacation to Laki Laogai. It was quite refreshing." Joo Dee said.

"What are you here for?" Olivier asked.

"Dropping fliers and putting up posters isn't permitted within the city. Not without proper clearance." Joo Dee said.

"We can't wait to get clearance on everything." Sokka said.

"You're forbidden by the rules of the city to continue putting up posters." Joo Dee said.

Aang stepped forward, and snapped.

"We don't care about the rules and we're not asking for permission! We're finding Appa our own way and you should just stay out of our way!"

Aang slammed the door and fumed in anger.

"That's gonna bite us in the blubber." Sokka said.

"I don't care. From now on, we do whatever it takes to find Appa." Aang said.

Toph was only too happy to comply.

"Alright. Lets break some rules!" She said, and tore down a chunk of the house with her earth bending.

After putting some posters on a wall, Olivier went with Katara to help. They were caught off guard by someone calling Katara's name.

"Katara?" he asked.

Katara looked to see the last person she'd ever want to see. Jet.

"I think I can help." He said.

Katara lost her shit, and started attacking him with large amounts of water.

"Katara, I don't want to fight you!" Jet shouted, tossing down his swords.

Jet reached behind him, and Katara quickly pinned him to a wall with ice. Everyone else heard the noise and came.

"Katara, what's going on?" Aang asked.

"Jet's back. We can't trust anything Jet says." Katara said.

"But we don't know why he's here." Sokka said.

"Doesn't matter. Whatever the reason is, It can't be good." Katara said.

Talk about anger issues. Katara could be real angry when she wanted to be.

"I'm here to help you find Appa." Jet said, showing a flier of the animal.

"Bullshit. You're lying." Katara said.

"No. He's telling the truth." Toph said, kneeling next to Katara.

"How can you tell?" Sokka asked.

"When people lie, there's a physical change. He's telling the truth." Toph said.

"Katara, we don't have any leads. We have to take him." Aang said.

"All right." Katara said, before rounding on Jet. "But we're not letting you out of our sight."

As they followed Jet, Olivier revaluated her opinion of Katara. She was just as a brat as the rest of them, if not more. Sokka and Aang were willing to let Jet help them. Olivier figured Katara had major trust issues. She would not fare well at Briggs fortress. You had to have trust in your team. Even if shit happened, that was left in the past.

"This is the place I heard about." Jet said, taking them to a large warehouse.

"There's nothing here." Sokka said.

"If this is another trap…" Katara said, pulling out some water.

Olivier added another note to Katara. To narrow minded. She believes everything is one way. She seemed unwilling to be open to other ideas. Aren't water bender supposed to be flexible and adaptable? Katara was just proving the complete opposite.

"He was here." Toph said, holding a piece of fur.

"They moved him. But where could you hide a flying bison?" Olivier asked.

"Yeah. They shipped that large creature to some island." An older man said, sweeping the floor.

"What island?" Aang asked.

"Whale Tail island." The man said.

Sokka looked at a map for the island. And he had bad news.

"That island is very far away. Practically at the south pole." Sokka said.

"Aang, it'll take us weeks to get there." Katara said.

"I'm going after him." Aang said, walking out of the building.

"I'll come with you." Jet said.

"We don't need your help." Katara said.

"Why won't you trust me?" Jet asked.

"Gee. I wonder." Katara said.

"Was this guy your boyfriend or something?" Toph asked.

"No he wasn't!" Katara snapped.

"I can tell you're lying." Toph said, almost singing it.

As they walked towards the outer wall, Smellerbee and longshot found them.

"Jet!" Smellerbee said.

"I thought you left them behind." Katara said.

"I did." Jet said.

"How'd you get away from the Dai Li?" Smellerbee asked.

"The Dai Li?" Katara asked, wondering what was going on.

"He got arrested a couple of weeks ago. We saw them drag him away." Smellerbee said.

"Why would I be arrested? I've been living peacefully in the city." Jet said.

"That's strange. They're both telling the truth." Toph said.

"That's impossible." Katara said.

"Wow, Katara. Your sense of ignorant bullshit never ceases to surprise me." Olivier said, earning a glare by Katara. Olivier glared back.

"Toph can't tell who's lying because they both believe they're telling the truth. Jet's been brainwashed." Sokka said.

Everyone surrounded Jet, and took him to an abandoned building.

"The Dai Li must have sent Jet to mislead us, and that janitor was part of the plan." Katara said.

"I bet they have Appa here in the city. Maybe he's in the same place they took Jet! Where did they take you?" Aang asked.

"Nowhere. I don't know what you're talking about." Jet said.

"We need to find a way to jog his memories." Aang said.

"Maybe Katara should kiss him. That should bring something back." Sokka teased.

"Maybe you should kiss him, Sokka." Katara spat back.

"Hey, just an idea." Sokka said.

"A bad one." Aang said.

"Try to think of something from your past that triggers your emotions." Toph said.

"The fire nation! Remember what they did to your family!" Smellerbee said.

"Bad idea. He's a refugee in the city, not even 18 years old. You want to see posttraumatic, you'll see it. It's not a good thing. Try something else." Olivier said.

Katara bended water on Jets head, as he remembered his past.

"They took me to a headquarters under the water, like a lake!" Jet said, remembering.

"Wait. What did Joo Dee say? She went on vacation to Lake Laogai." Sokka said.

"That's it." Jet said, standing up. "Lake Laogai."

Jet took the group to Lake Laogai, and this was eerily similar for Olivier. The higher ups at central in Amestris, had plans to create an undead army, using philosopher stones. They were in league with 'Father' and almost destroyed the world. A similar thing, on a much smaller scale, was happening in Ba Sing Se. The higher ups of the city were conspiring to keep the city in ignorance.

Olivier snorted in disgust. Tyrants always feared their subjects, because one day the subjects will figure out what's really going on, and rise up against them.

"So this is where the headquarters is?" Sokka asked.

"Under the water, I think." Jet said.

"There's a tunnel right there by the shore." Toph said, and earth bended a slab of rock with an entrance.

Inside the fortress, they passed several rooms. One room had a bunch of women being brainwashed to be multiple Joo Dees.

"I think there's a cell big enough to hold Appa. Right here." Jet said, opening a door.

The group entered the door, and saw multiple agents hanging from the ceiling.

"Now that's something different." Sokka said.

"You have made yourself enemies of the state. Take them into custody." Long Feng said.

The Dai Lee agents jumped from the ceiling and started fighting with the gang. Olivier pulled out her sword and quickly cut the head off an agent. Seeing Jet dueling one agent, she ran towards the agent and stabbed him dead.

"Duck." Jet shouted, and swung his sword, killing another agent.

"Thanks for that." Olivier said.

"Long Feng's running." Aang said.

Aang and Jet ran after him, leaving the rest to contend with the Dai Lee agents. Olivier fought back to back with various members of the group, whether it be Sokka, Katara, Toph, etc.

"How many agents are their?" Sokka asked, blocking a rock glove, allowing Toph to dispose of him.

"We're almost done here." Olivier said, slashing her way thru the Dai Li.

When the carnage was over, everyone ran to where Aang and Jet went to.

"Shit." Olivier muttered, seeing Jet lying on the floor, covered with several wounds.

"This isn't good." Katara said, trying to heal Jet with her water bending.

"You guys go and find Appa. We'll take care of Jet." Smellerbee said.

"We're not gonna leave you." Katara said.

"There's no time. Just go. We'll take care of him. He's our leader." Longshot said, speaking for the only time. That caught everyone by surprise.

"Don't worry, Katara. I'll be fine." Jet said.

Olivier looked at him, and knew he wasn't fine. He was gonna die. They finally reached Appa's hold, only to discover he was gone.

"Appa's gone! Long Feng beat us here." Aang said.

"If we keep moving, maybe we can reach him." Sokka said.

Escaping to the beach, they were ambushed by dozens of Dai Li agents.

"You think we can outrun them?" Sokka asked, as they ran away from the threat.

"I don't think that' gonna matter." Aang said.

Soon, they were cornered by the agents, and Long Feng himself. Olivier pulled out her broadswords and got ready to fight.

"Shit." Olivier muttered, knowing that they weren't gonna win this round.

Momo came to Aang, in an excited manner.

"What is it Momo?" Aang asked.

A loud and heavy roar was heard, as Appa gave out of nowhere. He knocked the Dai Li agents back, leaving Aang and Toph to take care of the rest. Appa and Long Feng faced each other down.

"I'll take care of you myself." Long Feng said, moving to attack. Appa quickly tossed Long Feng into the water like it was nothing.

"Yeah, Appa!" Sokka shouted.

"I've missed you buddy." Aang said, shedding tears.

The group flew on Appa, sans the saddle back to the city. Olivier hoped that this would be the end of their troubles. But something told her otherwise. She had a gut feeling that thing's would get worse, not better.


	8. Chapter 8 the earth king

Ch 8 the earth king

"Look, we escaped from the Dai Li. We got Appa back. I'm telling you, we should go and see the earth king now and tell him of our plan. We're on a roll." Sokka said.

"One good hour after weeks of trouble isn't much of a roll." Katara said.

"We can build on it. If we want to invade the fire nation when the eclipse happens, we'll need the earth king's support." Sokka said.

"What makes you think we'll get it? In case you haven't noticed, things never go good for our gang." Toph said.

"I know. But I've got a good feeling about this one." Sokka said.

"How much are you willing to risk on this 'good feeling'?" Olivier asked. "Will you risk your life and the lives of your friends and the Avatar?"

"Olivier's right. The risk is too great. We need to leave." Katara said.

"We have Appa back. Nothing can stop us from seeing the Earth King and telling him of the conspiracy and the war." Aang said.

"Jesus Christ. You still don't get it, do you? Long Feng is preparing the defenses as we speak. Even if we move right now and make it through the defenses and all the guards and Dai Li agents, the king won't listen. Hell, killing all his guards and soldiers and breaking into his room, the king will think we're enemies, not allies. There is no way to convince the king of your plan, and sure as hell don't have the time to come up with a decent plan." Olivier said.

"We're heading to meet the king. And there's nothing that can stop us. We got Appa and the Avatar." Sokka said.

"Then God help us. If your plan fails, he's the only one who can end this war." Olivier said.

The group flew on Appa towards the palace, and was quickly shot at by SAR. Surface to air rocks.

"Incoming!" Sokka shouted.

"I told you this would happen!" Katara shouted.

Landing thru heavy anti-air fire, the group proceeds to lay waste to the earth kingdom guards. Granted, these kids were fighting their own guerilla war against the superior fire nation, and General Armstrong fought Homunculi, and was known to dish out curb stomp battles of her own. Needless to say, they mowed the earth kingdom guards down like nothing.

"Start searching the rooms. The sooner we find the king, the better." Olivier said, as she kicked down a door. When she saw nothing, she continued the search. At the end of the hall, was a large and impressive set of doors. Olivier scoffed at it all.

"Of course. It's always the big fancy doors at the end of the hallway that contain our objective." She muttered.

Sokka ran towards the door in an attempt to break it down. It didn't work.

"Are you stupid or something? Doors that big won't come down so easily." Olivier said.

Toph and Aang had no qualms about using their bending to break the doors down.

"A little more warning next time." Sokka said.

Olivier saw the king, with Long Feng standing next to him, and several Dai Li agents standing in front.

"We have to talk to you." Aang said.

"There here to overthrow you." Long Feng said to the king.

"No, we're on your side. We're here to help you!" Sokka said.

"You invade my palace. Lay waste to my guards, and break down my door. And you expect me to trust you?" the earth king asked.

"He does have a point." Toph said.

"Told you this wouldn't work." Olivier added.

"If you're on my side, drop your weapons and stand down." The king said.

They dropped their weapon, only for the Dai Li to cuff their hands.

"Make sure the Avatar and his friends never see the light of day again." Long Feng said.

"The Avatar?" Kuei asked.

"What does it matter? They're enemies of the state." Long Feng said.

"Maybe. But if this is the Avatar… I'll hear what he has to say." Kuei said.

"There's a war going on for a hundred years. The Dai Li has kept it secret from you. It's a conspiracy to control the city." Aang said.

"A secret war, that's crazy." Kuei said.

"Long Feng didn't want us to tell you. He stole our bison to blackmail us. And that's the least of his crimes." Aang said.

"All lies. I never even seen one. Their extinct." Long Feng said.

"Your claim is difficult to believe, even from the Avatar." Kuei said.

Just as they were to be led away into prison, Aang and Sokka managed to convince the king to hear them out, by showing the King the bite mark from Appa, and comparing it to the bison's teeth.

"The matter is worth looking into." Kuei said.

Olivier's eyes followed Long Feng as he disappeared.

 _He knows about the secret base. He'll destroy it as to discredit us. The drill is our last option to convince the king._

Just like Olivier thought, the secret Dai Li base was destroyed.

"This is a waste of my time. I'm heading back to the palace." Kuei said.

"If you come with us to the outer wall, we can show you that the war is real." Aang said.

"No earth king has been to the outer wall." Kuei said.

"Then how the hell did you ever become king, other than birthright? If you haven't been to the outer wall, how can you expect to run your country when the war is over? If you survive?" Olivier asked.

The group headed to the drill, hoping to convince the king. Much to their relief, it was still there.

"What is that?" Kuei asked.

"A drill. Made by the fire nation to break the wall and invade your city." Katara said.

Long Feng appeared with two Dai Li agents, and attempted to bullshit his way thru.

"This merely a construction project, your majesty." He said.

"Really?" Katara sarcastically asked. "Then why does your construction project have a fire nation insignia?"

"Well, it's imported off course. You know you can't trust domestic machinery." Long Feng said, destroying the last bit of trust the king had in him, by saying he imported technology from their enemy.

"Surely you believe these kids over your most trusted advisor?" he asked, nervous.

"Dai Li. Arrest Long Feng. I want him tried for treason and crimes against the state." Kuei said.

The two agents gave each other a suspicious look, then cuffed Long Feng with metal cuffs.

"You can't arrest me! You all need me more then you know!" Long Feng shouted.

"Yeah. Long Feng, is long gone!" Sokka said.

That night, they talked with the king.

"We're at war, with the fire nation." He said, horrified.

"That's right. We can help you end the war." Sokka said.

"We don't have much time. There's a comet coming this summer. Its energy will give the fire nation immense power. They'll be unstoppable." Aang said.

"But there is hope. Before the comet comes, we have a window of opportunity. A solar eclipse is coming. The sun will be blocked out by the moon, and the fire benders will be helpless." Sokka said.

"What are you suggesting, Sokka?" Kuei asked.

Olivier butted in, having an idea of her own.

"You want suggestions? You're on the losing end of this fight. Give it up before you all die." Olivier said.

"What?" Kuei asked.

"The remains of your army won't last 5 seconds in a full scale battle against the fire nation. Pull every man and women capable of bearing arms out of the city. Have them conduct guerilla warfare. When the time is right, converge on the coast of the earth kingdom, and launch an attack on the fire nation when the black day occurs. You'll have to abandon this city, but you'll have a chance of ending the war." Olivier said.

"And there's another problem you idiots failed to think of, let alone address. When you beat the fire nation, you still have hundreds of loyal colonists and citizens to contend with. And rest assured, the earth king's armies will be reduced from that battle. It's war. Casualties happen. How are you going to convince the citizens that killing the fire lord and his general is the right thing? They could rise up in arms and destroy the remnant forces, and end the war on their terms. If the Avatar wants to end the war for good, he'll have to use the Avatar state, and crush every last colony the fire nation has in the earth kingdom. Let that sink in your minds for a while." Olivier said.

General How came in to visit them and showed them several important letters and documents concerning the group. All intercepted by the Dai Li. Toph received a letter from her mom. Sokka and Katara received news that their father was in Chameleon Bay, outside the city. Aang received a letter from a Guru, who could help him master the Avatar state.

Olivier received a letter from Fuhrer Roy Mustang. She opened it, scowling on the inside. What did the bastard have to say to her?

 _Dear General Armstrong_

 _We're unable to send forces to assist you and the Avatar. We're busy with the rebuilding of Ishval, and tensions between Amestris and Drachma are dangerously high. We'll need all available forces to defend the country if war breaks out._

 _From, Fuhrer Mustang._

The plans were soon set. Olivier and Sokka would go to the bay to assist the water tribe ships. Olivier wouldn't take part in planning the invasion. She knew it would fail no matter what. Even if they did take out the head command, they still had to deal with the citizens and colonist. And they wouldn't have the manpower for that ordeal.

As Olivier, Aang and Sokka flew on Appa towards the bay, Aang and Sokka were talking about how things were going good.

"So you honestly think things are turning your way?" Olivier asked.

"Yeah. They are." Sokka said.

"Great. Now let me slap some reality into your face. Fact: we still have a war to fight. Fact: It's months between now and the solar eclipse. God knows what'll happen between now and there. And even if we do win, we still have to fight all the angry citizens and colonists, for killing their leader. To be blunt, we'll be fighting the fire nation for another decade or so." Olivier said.


	9. Chapter 9 fall of Ba Sing Se

Ch 9 fall of Ba Sing Se

The bison flew over a water tribe, and Sokka and Olivier dismounted.

"You haven't seen your father in over two years. You must be excited!" Aang said.

Sokka almost threw up.

"I know I should, but I just feel sick to my stomach." Sokka said.

"Don't be nervous. He's gonna be happy to see you." Aang said.

"So what about you? Are you nervous to meet this Guru guy?" Sokka asked.

"Not at all. I'm ready to master the Avatar state. I'll do whatever it takes. See you in a week. Yip, yip!" Aang said.

Sokka and Olivier walked into the camp, being warmly greeted by the water tribe soldiers. They entered the main tent, and Olivier saw a burly man, sitting next to a map and saw other water tribe warriors as well.

"Sokka." Hakoda said, looking at his son.

"Dad." Sokka said.

As the two embraced, Bato noticed Olivier.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"General Olivier Armstrong. I've been sent by the government of Amestris, a fare away country to help."

"We can use your help. We've been keeping the fire nation from entering the bay." Hakoda said.

"What weapons do you have?" Olivier asked.

"We've got tangle mines. When detonated, the seaweed tangles the propellers and the foul smell forces the crew to abandon ship. I call it the stink and sink." Hakoda said, proud of his invention.

Olivier was unamused.

"That plan won't last long. The fire nation is quick to react and adapt to its enemies. What happens when you encounter a ship whose crew is carrying gas masks? They'll just free the ship from the seaweed and march on. You must have some explosives or other weapons captured from the fire nation ships." She said.

"We don't. My concern is to keep my warriors fighting day after day. I admit, I'd love to salvage the fire nation vessels, but taking the time to salvage enemy weapons is too dangerous. We'll take casualties, and we don't have a lot of ships or manpower to spare. Everyone, leave. I need to speak to my son and our general." Hakoda said.

Everyone left, and Hakoda spoke to the two of them.

"We're losing this fight. Every day, we face the threat that the fire nation will send in an entire armada. It's only a matter of time until they do so. The way we're fighting, losses, combat, etc. I estimate weeks, if not 3 months tops until we're forced to surrender the bay. We can't hold out forever." Hakoda said.

"Hakoda, I look at this map, and agree with you. There is honestly nothing we can do to stop the inevitable. The fire nation will win, even at large costs of soldiers, because they can simply replace the dead. We can't." Olivier said.

"Lets not tell anyone. Last thing we need, is moral to drop like a rock." Hakoda said.

"Agreed." Sokka said.

Soon, they were alerted that 4 fire nation cruisers were heading their way.

"Bato, get the mines ready! Everyone else, get ready for battle!" Hakoda ordered.

As everyone ran to their posts, Sokka looked at his dad.

"Dad, what should I do?" he asked.

"Didn't you hear, I said **everyone** get ready for battle." Hakoda replied.

Olivier pulled Sokka aside and talked to him.

"You've fire nation before, but have you killed any enemy soldiers?" she asked.

"No. I never really thought of that." Sokka said.

"Stay next to me at all times. If I tell you to run, you run. Got it?" Olivier asked.

"Got it." Sokka said, determined.

But it was not to be, because as they were about to leave, Aang appeared on Appa. He had a concerned look.

"This can't be good." Sokka said.

"Go ahead, son. We'll take care of them." Hakoda said.

"So what kind of trouble is Katara in?" Sokka asked, as they flew on Appa towards the city.

"I don't know. In my vision, I knew she needed help." Aang said.

Well that wasn't informative. Sokka voiced it.

"It would be helpful if your Avatar powers could be more specific from time to time." Sokka said, before noticing something on the ground. "What's that?"

They flew closer to the ground, and saw it was Toph racing towards the city using earth surfing. Picking her up, they continued.

"So how did it go with the Guru? Did you master the avatar state?" Sokka asked.

Aang couldn't answer. Olivier waited for an answer.

"Aang, are you okay?" Sokka asked.

"I'm great. It went great with the guru. I completely mastered the avatar state." Aang said.

He then laughed nervously and looked down. Olivier knew the truth from deductive reasoning. Aang didn't master the Avatar state at all. If he did, then he wasn't that confident in himself. Either way, if they were going into a situation that required the use of the avatar state, Olivier considered them fucked. Big time.

The conversation with the earth king didn't do much to help calm her down. They headed to the house and met with Iroh.

"You guys know each other?" Aang asked.

"I met him in the woods once and knocked him down. Then he gave me some tea and some very good advice." Toph said.

"Princess Azula is here in Ba Sing Se." Iroh said.

"She must have Katara." Aang said.

"She has also captured my nephew." Iroh said.

"Then we'll work together to fight Azula and save Katara and Zuko." Aang said.

"Whoa, back up. You lost me at Zuko." Sokka said.

"I know how you feel about my nephew. But there is good inside him." Iroh said.

"Great. Come back when there's good outside him." Sokka sarcastically said, pushing Iroh away.

"Katara is in trouble. The whole city is in trouble. Working together is our only best chance." Aang said, voicing Olivier's thoughts.

"I have someone who might help us." Iroh said.

The group headed outside, and met a bound and gagged Dai Li agent.

"Azula and Long Feng are planning a coup! They're gonna overthrow the earth king!" the agent said.

"Where's my sister?" Sokka asked.

"In the crystal catacombs under the city." The agent said.

Olivier than cut the agents throat citing that they couldn't deal with prisoners.

Moving in the city, Toph found the entrance to the catacombs.

"Well, what'd you know? There is an ancient city. But it's very deep." She said, before earth bending an entrance.

"We'll split up. Aang, you go with Iroh and look for Katara and angry jerk." Sokka said, before realizing Iroh was next to him. "No offense."

"None taken." Iroh said, knowing that Sokka was more than likely right.

"Me, Olivier, and Toph will go and warn the king of the coup." Sokka said.

"More like stop the coup." Olivier said.

They went to the palace, and saw as the main generals were rounded up by the Dai Li. Avoiding detection, they went into the Kuei's throne room.

"There's a coup going on!" Olivier said.

"What?" Kuei asked.

Azula appeared out of nowhere and threatened the king with her blue fire, but then noticed Olivier.

"You!" she shouted.

"You recognize me." Olivier said, pulling out her Dao swords.

Unfortunately for Olivier, she wouldn't be able to have another fight with Azula. Ty Lee quickly immobilized them with her chi blocking.

"Take them away." Azula ordered.

Hours passed, and they found themselves in a prison cell.

"I'm gonna murder that bitch." Olivier growled.

"One step at a time. We need to leave the city." Sokka said.

He turned his attention to Toph.

"See any Dai Li agents nearby?" he asked.

"Nope." Toph said.

Toph broke down the metal door of the prison and they quickly ran out.

"Lets go." Sokka said.

"I'm not leaving without Bosco!" Kuei said, earning a look from Olivier.

Reaching the throne room, they found Bosco, and Ty Lee and Mai. Toph quickly trapped Ty Lee with her earth bending.

"Just take the bear." Mai said, in a bored tone.

Talk about complacent. They made their way to Appa, and flying over the city, they found Katara with a dead Aang.

"Oh no." Sokka said.

Katara used the spirit water from the North Pole and put it on Aang's wound. Looking at it, Olivier saw it was an extremely brutal wound. A large searing burn mark was on the back. Aang woke up and looked at Katara.

"The earth kingdom, has fallen." Kuei said.

"So much for the invasion plan." Olivier said.


	10. Chapter 10 the awakening

Ch 10 the awakening

"Why are we on a fire nation ship?" Aang asked.

"Gee, the city fell. Fire nation controls the world. What else could we have done?" Olivier coldly asked.

"You got hurt real bad." Katara said, ignoring Olivier's cold remark.

Aang said nothing, but felt the bandages on his stomach.

"I like your hair." Katara said.

"I have hair!?" Aang asked, completely surprised. "How long was I out?"

"Several weeks." Katara said.

"Is everything alright?" Hakoda asked, walking up to them.

"Everything's fine, dad." Katara curtly said, not looking at him.

Aang looked between the two of them, confused.

"I'm Hakoda, Katara and Sokka's father." Hakoda said, shaking Aang's hand.

"Pleased to meet you." Aang said, shaking his hand.

"Okay, you met. Can you leave us alone?" Katara asked, glowering at his father.

"Alright." Hakoda said.

Olivier observed the situation. It reminded her of the relation between her, and her brother. Somewhat. But Olivier could give Katara some leeway. She was still young, and forced to take on so much responsibility. Of course she'd be angry. Then again, the war has lasted for 100 years. Wouldn't she be happy to see her father again? Instead of angry?

 _Funny. After the Ishval war, I was pissed at Alex, because he failed his duty in the military. Here, Katara's angry at her father for being gone so long. Doesn't she understand? He went to fight for the earth kingdom to stop the fire nation._

She put those thoughts away, and watched as Katara and Aang went inside for another healing session.

"So what's the plan? We don't have the armies of Ba Sing Se." Olivier said.

"It's a modified version of the invasion plan. We'll gather some friends and allies from the earth kingdom, and strike on the day of black sun." Sokka said.

Olivier only shook her head.

"It's gonna fail. You don't have the forces necessary to pull this off. But, I'll help with it. No promises on victory." Olivier said.

"All we need is to break thru the defenses. Aang will take out the fire lord." Sokka said.

Olivier scoffed and walked away. It was always on Aang. The kid was gonna burn himself out. If everyone else trained themselves to be better, they'd have a higher chance of survival. This really was going to fail.

"You know, you're dumping everything on the kid. Why don't you pick up some of the slack? If you trained and prepared yourself to be stronger and better fighters, you'd have a higher chance of survival. What happens if Aang gets killed on the battlefield? Everyone throws down their weapons and surrenders?" Olivier asked.

"No. It's nothing like that." Hakoda said.

"Really? It sure as hell seems otherwise." Olivier spat.

Aang was healed enough to hear the new plans by Sokka and Hakoda.

Olivier watched as Sokka broke news to Aang, which wasn't good news for Aang.

"We have a secret. You" Sokka said.

"Me?" Aang asked.

"Yup. The whole world thinks you're dead." Sokka said cheerfully, spreading his arms out.

"The world thinks I'm dead?" Aang asked, horrified.

"Yep. The fire nation won't be expecting you, and that means they won't be hunting us down." Sokka said.

Olivier admitted, that was a good point. If your enemy thought their main enemy was dead, when he was actually alive, said enemy could be free to do whatever they wanted.

"Fire nation ship!" someone shouted, pointing to another cruiser on an intercept course.

"I'll handle this. The avatar is back." Aang said, opening his glider.

He was still healing. What was he thinking?

"Aang, stop. Dad and Bato can handle this." Katara said.

"Fine." Aang said, scowling.

Olivier had a look of disgust. The kid just barely escaped death, thanks to Katara. And he was still being a brat? How he survived this long in the war, was a mystery to Olivier. The sooner he faced reality, the better.

"Commander, what are you doing? All western fleets are supposed to report to Ba Sing Se." the leader said.

"We're from the eastern fleet. We've been sent to deliver some cargo." Hakoda said, bluffing.

The enemy captain bought it. For a minute, things were going smooth. But Olivier noticed that the captain was being talked to one of his guards.

Olivier didn't hear anything, but Toph yelled her suspicions.

"They know!" Toph yelled. She metal bended the metal bridge and threw the enemy captain and his guards into the sea. Katara unleashed a massive water wave, separating both warships.

The fire nation cruiser chases the imposter ship, firing fire balls and damaging the engines.

"How are things?" Toph asked.

"Things couldn't get much worse." Sokka said.

Suddenly, the giant serpent rose out of the water.

"Aw shit." Olivier said.

"The universe just loves proving me wrong, doesn't it?" Sokka asked.

"You make it to easy." Toph replied.

The fire benders on the other ship then attacked the serpent, drawing the large creature to attack their own ship.

Later, Katara carried a tray of food to Aang's room and found he wasn't there. Olivier snorted when she found the news.

"Guess the bastard didn't learn. He's still a whiny bitch, refusing to see reality. He'll die before he reaches the fire nation." Olivier spat.

"You don't have much faith in Aang, do you?" Katara asked.

"None. First, he leaves us to die in the desert. Now, he leaves us to go after the fire nation by himself. I couldn't care less if he dies or not. Besides, with all of you depending on him and putting all this pressure on him, no wonder he snapped. How blind and stupid could all of you be? You should make plans to end the war **without** the avatar. Be prepared if that happens." Olivier said.

"We're going after him." Katara said.

They found the avatar washed up on an island with a volcano on it. Olivier wondered what would have happened if the volcano had erupted before they arrived. These kids were relying on dumb blind luck. Now they were inside enemy territory. If this kept up, they wouldn't live long enough for the invasion.

"If we're going to be in the fire nation, no-one needs to know I'm here." Aang said, as he stabbed his ruined glider into a flow of lava, destroying it.


	11. Chapter 11 the headband

Ch 11 the headband

Olivier peered over a small rock formation. They were not in some person's back yard, and were going to steal some clothes.

"This better work." Olivier muttered. She motioned for the kids to enact their plan. As they ran out and grabbed the clothes they needed, Olivier kept watch.

In a market place, everyone was stuffing themselves with food. Olivier remembered something from Drakma.

 _In Drachma, food eats you._

Smirking a little, she bit into her steak, tearing a big chunk off. She noticed that Aang refused to eat and opted to search for food from the _garbage._ Wow. That kid was gonna die when he faced the fire lord. Hell, he'd probably die of starvation before the big fight occurred. Swallow your pride. Olivier thought Aang of all people would know that.

Olivier watched out of the corner of her eye as Aang was captured by two soldiers.

 _Shit._

Noticing that no-one knew about it, Olivier slid away and followed Aang and his captures.

 _How did they know he was the Avatar? He's fully covered with fire nation clothes from head to toe._

Olivier continued following them, straight to a school. Of course. Aang grabbed clothing belonging to a school student. The soldiers thought he was a student playing hockey.

Olivier approached the door with her hand out stretched. She stopped in her tracks and her hand went towards her swords. She quickly turned around and saw nothing. Not content, she walked the perimeter of the school. With nothing to do, she waited until the school was over.

"School." Olivier muttered. "Acronym for seven cruel hours of our lives."

The bell rang, and the students walked out. She eyeballed Aang and noticed him talking to a taller student. Said student had a snarl on his face.

They taller boy left with the girl Aang was talking to. Olivier chalked him up as a target. She approached Aang, one hand on a knife.

 _Get ahold of yourself, Olivier. He's just a teenager. You were going to kill him just for talking to Aang._ Olivier put the thought away. They were in the fire nation, wanted by the authorities. Would she kill anyone, even a child or teenager to remain safe? Yes. She would kill and sleep like a baby that night.

"So, have fun?" Olivier asked.

"Olivier! How'd you know?" Aang asked, jumping from her presence.

"I followed you." Olivier said.

"That's a little creepy." Aang said.

"Once you start fending for yourself, then I'll stop." Olivier said, insulting the Avatar. And she knew it.

Entering the cave they were bombarded with questions from the group.

"Where have you been?" Katara asked.

"I enrolled in a fire nation school." Aang said.

Olivier said nothing, but counted her fingers. 3, 2, 1.

"Enrolled in what?!" Sokka asked, jumping up. Olivier only smirked.

"It's true. I was there." Olivier said.

"Why didn't you pull him out?" Sokka asked.

Olivier gave Sokka an evil look. And he was supposed to be a genious.

"Listen. This is a good opportunity for Aang to gather as much Intel about the fire nation. Granted, it won't be military. But there's a chance he'll know something that'll aid us in the war. I'm willing to take that chance. Aang, are you?" Olivier asked.

"Yeah. Besides, it was great. So I'm going back tomorrow." Aang said.

Olivier waved her hand in a gesture that said _case closed. Deal with it._

Next morning, she didn't follow Aang to the school. She stayed at the caves and sharpened her swords and knifes for combat.

As a result, she was completely surprised when Aang came back with Sokka and Katara and talked about hosting a dance party. Olivier spat out the water she was drinking. And looked at Aang. Now that was the dumbest idea ever. Now the risk of being discovered and captured was high. Extremely high. And Olivier wasn't in the mood to kill students and police forces to escape.

Did Aang forget they were in the homeland of their enemy? No.

Didn't take long for the party to get going. But Olivier knew that things never went smoothly as planned. The headmaster appeared with a student named Hide.

What kind of a name is that? His parents must have some deep psychological problems. Then again, 100 years of brutal oppression by the government will do that to you. Crazy government equals crazy people.

Olivier put her hand on a sword and got ready for a fight. To her surprise the students began to put on headbands much like how Aang wore it. The plan worked brilliantly, and the school principle was effectively shut down from finding Aang.

Olivier walked to Aang and pulled him aside.

"We need to leave, now." She said.

The group fled capture and escaped on Appa.

"We're safe Sokka, you can take off the beard." Katara said.

"Oh no I can't. It's permanently glued to my skin." Sokka said, stroking the beard.

Olivier grabbed the beard and tore it right off. Followed right after that, was Sokka screaming in pain, holding his mouth and jaw.

"Guess not." Olivier smirked.


	12. Chapter 12 the painted lady

Ch 12 the painted lady

Olivier looked in disgust as the bison trudged thru the filth infested water. No one else seemed to mind. And Aang was swimming in the damn pollution. Who knew what kind of bacteria or poisons were in there?

Sokka pulled his fishing net out with no catch.

"Your stupidity never ceases to amaze me." Olivier said to Sokka.

"We might find some food in a nearby town." Katara said.

"I doubt it. As polluted as this river is, you're gonna find nothing in a town, if it exists. And if it does exist, expect two things." Olivier said.

"What things?" Aang asked.

"Sickness and death." Olivier said.

Olivier's predictions were true, as they approached a fishing town in the middle of the ocean. Olivier scanned the ocean for any threats. She half expected to see a mutated fish appear, thanks to the pollution.

"Because we're a fishing town. At least that's how it was before the factory moved in. The army makes their metal over there. Moved in a few years ago and started gunking up our river. Now our town is struggling to survive." Dock said, as he gave team Avatar a ride to the village.

The conditions were pitiful. They saw that all the kids and several adults were badly sick and on the verge of death. Olivier guess that it wouldn't be long before a plague appeared and killed everyone.

"We have to do something to help." Katara said, moved by the people's plight.

"We can't waste our time here. We have a bigger mission that we need to stay focused on. These people are on their own." Sokka said.

Who knew Sokka could be so cold and heartless? Even that took Olivier by surprise.

"These people are starving and on the verge of death. But you'd abandon them. How can you be so cold and heartless?" Katara asked.

"I'm being realistic. We'll do much more help when we take out the fire lord." Sokka said.

Olivier grabbed Sokka's mouth and covered it.

"Shut it about taking out the fire lord. Unless you want fire nation troops all over us." Olivier said.

That night, Olivier saw Katara wake up and put some clothing on. She then headed towards the town. Olivier went back to sleep, knowing that Katara would be alright.

Next morning proved to be more than Olivier could handle, as Sokka snapped.

"Appa's sick, that's terrible!" he shouted.

That struck Olivier odd. She didn't expect him to be the caring type.

"Wow, Sokka. Didn't know you cared." Toph said.

"Of course I care. I should just throw away my schedule away right now." Sokka said, looking at his schedule.

Then again, maybe not.

"And I'm concerned that my big furry friend isn't doing so well." Sokka quickly added, nuzzling Appa.

Aang pulled out Appa's tongue and found it was purple.

"How did that happen?" Olivier asked. Animal as big as a bison must have a strong immune system. That normally wouldn't occur.

"He needs medicine. Maybe we can find the right herbs in town." Katara suggested. Olivier doubted it.

"If they can't keep their own people healthy, than they don't have medicine for Appa." Olivier said.

"It's worth a shot." Aang said.

Olivier rolled her eyes.

Upon entering the village, they noticed that the mood was very different. A boy ran by laughing. Olivier was puzzled. She saw that same boy yesterday, and he was sick to the bone.

"Hey, Xu? What's going on? Why is everyone so happy all of a sudden?" Sokka asked.

Xu finished his bowl of some strange substance, and turned to them.

"Something amazing happened last night. Food was delivered to our town by a mysterious and wonderful person. The painted lady." Xu said.

"The painted lady?" Katara asked.

"The painted lady. They say she's a river spirit, who watches over our town in need. Always thought it was a myth. Until now." Xu said.

"What bullshit." Olivier said.

She didn't believe in any of that spiritual crap. People used it as an excuse to do whatever they wanted, whether it be war, or using the lie of a spirit helping them, so to remain lazy and indulgent. Problem with many religions was that they claimed that some higher power would help them. Olivier in her life never saw such help come until it was almost too late, sometimes never. As a result, she believed in survival of the fittest. If you want a solution you make it.

Next morning she woke up to the sweet sound of yelling.

"I know you've been sneaking out at night. I know you've been lying about Appa, and I know you've been feeding him purple berries. Katara, you put our entire mission in jeopardy. We're leaving." Sokka said.

The sound of motor engines was heard in the distance. Olivier went to the edge and saw jet skis heading towards the village.

"What did you do?" Sokka asked.

"I destroyed their factory." Katara said.

"You what?" Sokka asked.

"It was your idea!" Katara defended.

"Did you even think this through? The army is going to blame the villagers and massacre them." Sokka pointed out.

"What was I supposed to do?" Katara asked.

"Leave. Leave and do nothing!" Sokka said.

"Wow. You are cold and heartless. You want to win this war, win the hearts and minds of the people first. And that includes saving those who are in trouble, even if they are in the enemy country." Olivier said.

"Olivier's right. I'm going to help the village any way I can." Katara said walking towards the water.

"Wait." Sokka said, grabbing Katara. "I'm coming to."

"I thought you didn't care." Katara said.

"You need me, and I will never turn my back on you." Sokka said.

 _Maybe the two are alike._ Olivier thought.

Aang and Katara had it covered, and Sokka played the flute. Olivier watched as Katara posed as the painted lady, and frightened the enemy soldiers enough to force them into a retreat. She had to give Katara credit. She was a damn good bender.

Olivier and Sokka rowed Toph to town to meet with Aang and Katara, where the villagers were on the verge of a riot.

"How dare you act like our painted lady."

"You're a water bender!"

Sokka quickly intervened, preventing an all-out riot.

"She is a water bender but she was trying to help you! Because of her, that factory won't be polluting your river again, and the army is gone. You should be on your knees worshiping her!"

"Ya'll are pieces of shit, you know that?" Olivier added.

"Olivier!"

"What? You save their lives and this is what they do to you. Maybe you should have the soldiers massacre them." Olivier said.

Luckily Katara took over before things got out of hand.

"Doesn't matter if the painted lady is real or not. Your problems are real and this river is real. You can't wait around for someone to help you, you have to help yourself."

"You're right. But what can we do?" someone asked.

 _Jesus Christ! Katara pointed it out to you. The river is polluted like hell itself! Fix that first._

Olivier would always be amazed at how stupidity seemed to plague the human race, no matter where she went. No wonder she was the ice queen. She didn't believe in humanity at all.


	13. Chapter 13 sokkas master

Ch 13 Sokka's master

Olivier sat on her back, watching a meteor shower with her 'friends'. She didn't consider them friends that much.

"Kinda makes you realize how insignificant we are." Sokka said.

Olivier tossed the boy a glance. She saw some really freaky shit when Father almost killed everyone on the promised day. A meteor shower was nothing.

She watched as one large meteor flew just over their skulls and crashed into the ground. It sounded at lot like an atom bomb going off. Getting on Appa, they flew towards the crash site, and saw a large fire erupting.

"That fire's gonna destroy the town." Katara cried.

"Wow. Thanks for your great powers of observation. I never knew that was possible. I didn't think that the giant flames that could scorch us in right now were such a lethal threat." Olivier sarcastically said.

Ignoring her comment, they set to put out the fire. More like Katara, Aang, and Toph doing all of the work.

Next morning they were talking about the fire they put out.

"These people have no idea how close they were to being toast." Aang said.

"I know. And the worst part of being in disguise is that you don't get the hero worship anymore. I miss the love." Toph said.

Olivier softly scoffed in response. They weren't in disguise. They simply changed clothes. They didn't get reconstructive surgery to change their eyes. They just changed clothes for fucks sake!

"Boohoo, poor heroes." Sokka sarcastically said.

The tone in his voice caught Olivier's attention. She had never seen Sokka down in the dumps.

"What's your problem, you haven't even touched your smoked sea slug." Katara said.

Olivier looked at the… food sitting next to Sokka. It didn't even look like food. It looked like someone had half-hazardly cooked some road kill they found. She was sure that some deadly virus was still in there, just waiting to come out and kill someone.

"All you guys can do this awesome bending stuff. Like putting out forest fires and flying around. Even Olivier isn't a bender, yet she fought Azula one-on-one. And came close to killing her. I can't do anything remotely close to that." Sokka lamented.

"That's not true. No-one can read a map like you." Katara said.

"I can't read at all." Toph added.

"Yeah. And who keeps us laughing with sarcastic comments all the time?" Aang asked.

In Olivier's opinion, there chattering wasn't making Sokka happier. It only made it worse.

"Look, I appreciate the effort. The fact is, each of you is so amazing and so special. And I'm not." Sokka said.

Katara sat down with her brother and talked to him.

"I'm sorry you're feeling down on yourself. But I hope you know that none of us see you that way." She said.

"I know something that's gonna make you feel better." Katara said with newfound enthusiasm.

"You do?" Sokka asked.

Quicker than Olivier could blink, they were inside a weapons store.

"Shopping!" Sokka said.

 _Note to self. Do not allow children near dangerous weaponry. Especially if their name is Sokka._ Olivier thought, as she went thru the multiple weapons the store had.

It became clear to Olivier that Sokka had no weapons training what so ever, as he failed to properly hold several weapons, even using a dagger as a toothpick. Great way to cut your tongue out.

Everyone gathered with Sokka as he examined a sword.

"That's what you needed all along, Sokka." Aang exclaimed, not noticing that Olivier was right behind him.

Yeah. He was gonna die long before he faced the fire lord.

"A sword?" Sokka asked.

"No. A master. We've all had masters to teach us. You should train with Pinadao,"

Olivier raised an eyebrow. They were on a tight schedule. Shouldn't they have trained and prepared for all of this before they set out?

And if this Piandao was as good as they thought he was, wouldn't he have a long list of people wanting to learn? Sokka wouldn't get in. He didn't even have the most basic fundamentals of weapons training.

Surprisingly, Sokka was accepted as a student. With him spending his time in learning swordsmanship, the group was grounded. That bugged Olivier a bit. They kids wouldn't last 5 seconds at Briggs fortress. There was a reason the northern army was a force to be reckoned with. They could operate without their commanding officer. Olivier made sure of that.

Olivier pulled out a map and figured out the distance between them and the fire nation capital. They were heading in a general direction, but a little too slow in Olivier's mind.

Sokka soon came back and asked them to help carry the giant meteorite to the mansion. Olivier looked at the mansion, and was slightly impressed. Despite their technological backwardness the fire nation was, they still made some impressive buildings. And weapons.

"Who are these?" Piando asked.

"Just some friends. Some good friends from the fire nation." Sokka said.

Olivier watched Piandao's eyes watch over them, and she got the impression that the sword master knew they weren't fire nation. Still, he let them inside the mansion.

Days passed, as the sword was ready for combat. Piandao gathered everyone in a room, where he would present Sokka' sword.

The meeting was going well, until Sokka confessed the truth. Everyone except Olivier winced in horror. Olivier only had respect for Sokka. That took balls.

"I'm sorry too." Piandao said, before pulling his own sword. Everyone jumped to save Sokka, but he waved them down.

"This is my fight." Sokka said.

The sword master only smirked in response.

"Great." Olivier said.

"What's great?" Katara asked.

"Sokka's dead, and I'll have to kill the sword master to hide out identity. Maybe everyone in the mansion to leave no witnesses." Olivier said.

They watched as the fight progressed. It became to Olivier that Piandao wasn't going to kill Sokka. The fight was lasting too long, and Sokka would have been dead by now. Also, the fact that Piandao was giving Sokka advice in combat while actively fighting him.

She had to suppress a chuckle as Sokka ran into the courtyard screaming. Sokka was forced to duck as Piandao swung his sword in a decapitating motion. How he moved that fast against his younger opponent was beyond Olivier's mind at the moment.

Sokka temporarily blinded his opponent, and silently moved to the side to try and escape, only to step on a twig that appeared out of nowhere. Olivier suspected that Piandao booby-trapped the entire courtyard and its surroundings. Just when it seemed that Sokka was doomed to certain death, Piandao pulled back.

"Excellent work, Sokka." Piandao said, putting his sword away. "I'm a little old to be fighting the avatar, and another sword master."

"How'd you know I'm the avatar?" Aang asked.

"I've been around. You pick things up after a while. Of course I knew none of you were from the fire nation or its colonies from the very beginning. Your friend here was suspicious of me from the beginning." Piandao said.

"You might want to use a better fire nation cover name. Try Lee. There's a million Lees around." Piandao said.

"Why would agree to train someone from the water tribe?" Katara asked.

"The way of the sword doesn't belong to one nation. Just like knowledge doesn't belong to one nation." Piandao said.

"Were you even going to hurt Sokka?" Aang asked.

"No. Your friend knew that." Piandao said.

"If you were trying, Sokka would have been dead within the first 10 seconds." Olivier said.

Pinadao only nodded in response.

"How about a duel?" he asked.

"You're on." Olivier said, pulling out her Dao Swords.

"Interesting words you put on the blades." Piandao said, reading the words Olivier had scripted on the blade.

Piandao swung his sword and clashed with Olivier's blade, knocking one of the Dao swords way. Olivier had to quickly change her tactics. She spent most of the time her fighting benders. Now she was fighting a skilled non bender, wielding the same weapon she had.

Olivier cartwheeled away as Piandao continued his attacks.

"Excellent. Use your strengths against your enemy's weaknesses." Piandao said.

Piandao held his sword ready for another fight. Olivier raised her sword above her head. Both blades clashed and Olivier knocked Piandao's sword away and quickly kicked him in the nuts, hard. Piandao groaned in pain, clutching his genitals.

"Great improvising." He said. He threw his sword away and forfeited the fight.

"Why'd you kick him in the nuts?" Katara asked.

"If it wins a fight, I'd go with it." Toph said.

"Exactly. You want to win a fight, let alone a war, you have to fight dirty." Olivier said.


	14. Chapter 14 unknown attacker

Ch 14 unknown attacker

Olivier watched as the kids swam in a lake they had discovered. Sure they needed some quick R&R, but they needed to move on their objective. The capital city.

Olivier wearily watched as the group enjoyed themselves. It didn't seem like anyone could see them, but you never knew.

"Aang, cover your tattoos." Toph said.

"Why, no-one can see us." Aang said.

"We're in the fire nation, you idiot. You don't cover that tattoos, I'll skin you until the tats are gone." Olivier threatened.

She watched as Aang fell down a water cave. She knew he'd be okay, being a water bender. Grabbing Sokka' sword, she practiced with it for a minute. Satisfied, she headed back to the kids as Aang came back.

That night, Olivier woke up to the sound of a large explosion. She woke up and pulled out her sword. She walked forward, and saw someone standing on a ledge. A quick flash of light and another explosion occurred, destroying the rock defense Aang and Toph erected.

 _Alchemy?_ She thought, then dread horror filled her as she considered that possibility.

Watching the unknown fire at them again, she figured it wasn't an Alchemist, but an unusual fire bender.

"Everyone, get on Appa. I'll distract him!" Aang said.

With everyone on Appa, they watched as Aang air bended himself on the bison.

"Well that was random." Toph said.

"No. I get the feeling that guys knew who we were. How else did he find us?" Katara asked.

Olivier calmed her breathing and looked down from Appa. She half expected the unknown attacker to shoot down Appa.

Olivier also wondered how'd they get caught. They carefully covered their tracks, and now… She remembered that Aang didn't have his tattoos covered.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" Olivier asked.

"What?" Aang asked.

"I'm done trying to protect you. I'm done putting my life on the line trying to defend you. I'll fight to end this war, but that's it. If you're in a fight and you call for my help, don't expect it. How all of you survived the war for this long, I will never know." Olivier growled, glaring at the kids, like a parent deeply disappointed with their children.


	15. Chapter 15 much later

Ch 15 much later…

Stopping on an island, just because some dead guy appeared in a vision and told you so was more than strange. It was fucking lunacy!

But no-one cared. No they just decided to follow the Avatar. Olivier scoffed at them. The kids practically worshiped Aang, all because he was the Avatar. In Olivier's eyes that meant nothing. Aang had done nothing to warrant her trust.

"I don't see anything here." Sokka said.

"Something's here. It's an entire city, under volcanic ash." Toph said.

Olivier slightly opened her mouth in dread. That meant that this island had a volcano. And judging by the size of the volcanic ash, it must have been one hell of an eruption.

"My god. How many are here?" Olivier asked.

"You don't want to know." Toph said.

Olivier sharply inhaled. Dying by suffocation and asphyxiation were painful ways to go. And an entire village of people died that way.

Olivier quickly found herself bored out of her mind. She waited with everyone else while Aang conversed with his past life. He soon came back and told them the entire story.

"So even after Roku spared him, Sozin betrayed him?" Katara asked.

Wow. What a bastard. The two had been friends for decades, and just like that he leaves him to die a most horrible death. The poor bastard was probably buried under her feat. How sobering.

"It's like these people are born bad." Toph said.

"I beg to differ." Olivier muttered.

"That's not the point." Aang said.

Then tell us, 'wise' avatar. What was the point? Why did your past life spare Sozin when he had the chance to kill him, and the justification?

Olivier wondered if the Avatar's truly brought balance to the world or not.

"Roku was just as much fire nation as Sozin was, right? If anything, their story proves that anyone is capable of great good or great evil. Everyone, even the firelord and the fire nation have to be treated like they're worth giving a chance." Aang said.

"Now that's stupid. What about Azula? She killed you. Would you give her a chance? You'd just give her another opportunity to end your life. That sort of idea has its uses, but not in a war. Especially not this war." Olivier said.

Aang completely ignored her and continued talking.

"I think it was also about friendship." He said.

"You think friendships can last more than one lifetime?" Toph asked.

"I don't see why not." Aang said, grabbing her hand.

"Well, scientifically speaking, there's no way that…" Sokka drawled on.

"Sokka, just hold hands." Katara said. Sokka grabbed his sister's hand. Everyone looked at Olivier.

She knew what they wanted. But she refused. Being in the military on the frontlines, such as the Briggs border, meant that death was a daily thing. No use making friends if said friends would die the next day.

Climbing on Appa, they headed further into the fire nation and stopped near a town so Katara and Toph could train Aang. Olivier wondered how they would be able to cover the noise from the bending. They were far away from the town so the might not be heard at all.

"Hey Olivier. Could you teach me some sword fighting?" Sokka asked.

"Sure. Nothing else to do right now." Olivier said.

She quickly found out just how inexperienced Sokka was. She had Sokka first charge him, enatcting a combat scenario.

Olivier winced at how loud Sokka yelled. She side stepped him and knocked him on his ass.

"Sokka, don't yell like that. You'll alert the enemy." Olivier said.

"But it's cool." Sokka said.

Olivier put both her hands around Sokka's throat and squeezed hard. She pulled back when Sokka was about to pass out.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"If I was a fire nation soldier, you'd be dead. In combat, you'll have to learn how to fight exhausted. Get up." Olivier said.

Olivier raised her sword over her head.

"Why would you do that, that leave you open." Sokka said.

"Come and get me." Olivier said.

Sokka charged with a slashing attack. Olivier quickly blocked it away. Hearing some yelling, the two swordsman turned and saw Katara and Toph fighting each other.

Sokka got an idea and ran towards Aang, yelling.

"SNEAK ATTACK!" He shouted.

With little effort, Aang blocked Sokka with a simple earth wall.

"Sokka, sneak attacks don't work if you yell it." Aang said.

"That's what I said." Olivier said, then slapped Sokka up the head.

Aang turned his attention to his teachers.

"Guys, aren't you supposed to be training me?" he asked.

Toph and Katara stopped fighting.

"Very well." Katara stiffly said. "I believe we've had enough training one day."

Olivier raised an eyebrow. That was the most epic fail of one person trying to regain their dignity, or what was left of it. She lay against Appa and fell asleep as everyone else, sans Katara, headed into town.

She woke up as the rest came back.

"Where'd you get all that food?" Katara asked, seeing the large amounts of food.

"Toph got us money." Aang said. "She scammed one of those guys who moved the shells all sneaky like."

Katara didn't look too happy.

"She used earth bending to win the game. Classic!" Sokka added.

"So she cheated." Katara said.

"What's wrong with that?" Olivier asked, taking an apple and eating it.

"Excuse me?" Katara asked.

"There's something to be said about war. If you're not cheating, you're not winning. I've stabbed and cheated by way to the top. And I don't regret a damn thing." Olivier said.

"I'm just saying. You shouldn't make a habit of this." Katara advised.

"Katara, I'll make you an Avatar promise that we won't make a habit of these scams." Aang said.

 _Bullshit._ Olivier thought. She knew Aang just lied to Katara.

After a few scams later, Katara confronted them about it.

"Guys, this has gone long enough." Katara said, making Toph drop her smile. "If you keep doing that, something bad is going to happen."

"Will you stop being a sour puss and lighten up?" Toph asked, tossing her a coin.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You think I should be more like you? Like some wild child?" Katara pointed.

"Yeah. You should." Toph happily replied.

"Maybe then you'd see how great we have it. I mean, look at us. We're traveling the world. We're making easy money and having fun." Toph said, leaning against a boulder. "With no parents telling us what to do."

Olivier then paid deep attention. She pulled out her Armstrong sword, hoping that things wouldn't turn into a fight.

"I see. You're acting like this because of your parents." Katara said.

"Whatever." Toph said.

Katara shouldn't push it. Whatever problem Toph had with her parents was the past and not to be toyed with.

"They were controlling you so you ran way. And now you act like your parents don't exist." Katara pointed to Toph. "You act like you hate them, but you don't."

"I do hate them." Toph replied.

She should really shut up. Bringing up a person's past that they didn't want to confront was a bad idea.

"I don't think so. I think you miss them." Katara said. "But you don't want to deal with it, so you act like this crazy person."

Toph glared at Katara, angry at her.

"Look, I ran way to help Aang."

"Doesn't matter. These scams are putting all of us at risk and we don't need that. We've already got some third eyed freak after us." Katara said.

Oh. That guy.

"Speaking of which, I've come with a name for him. How about sparky sparky boom man?" Sokka asked, completely oblivious to what was going on.

"We have enough money." Katara said, ignoring Sokka.

"I'll stop when I want to stop. Now when you tell me to." Toph replied, walking past Katara.

As she and Sokka left, Katara turned to Olivier.

"Do you approve of this?" Katara asked.

"At the moment, no. It's very dangerous. I've known people who've gambled and scammed far too long and lost everything they gained, mostly in one night. But you pushed the line." Olivier said.

"What line?" Katara asked.

"You don't get it, do you? Toph's history with her parents is hers alone. Not to be invaded by you. You got off easy. Had it been me, I'd kill you on the spot." Olivier said, then walked away.

Olivier wasn't their when Katara and Toph had an even bigger fight. When she did come back, the two weren't gone. She, Aang, and Sokka headed into town to find them.

"Where is everyone?" Sokka asked.

Olivier pulled out her broad swords, knowing they were talking into a trap. Aang must have heard something, because he pulled both her and Sokka out of the line of fire.

"It's sparky sparky boom man!" Aang shouted.

Olivier rolled her eyes. For a second she wondered if it wouldn't have been better for Aang to have let her walk into the line of fire.

"That name doesn't fit him anymore." Sokka said.

Olivier face-palmed, and cursed under her breath. This was not her day. Katara and Toph appeared, and everyone ran away from the phsyco. Toph managed to stun him by a random blow thanks to a pebble.

"Hey, I got it." Sokka said.

"What?" Olivier asked.

"That perfect name for that guy. Combustion man." Sokka said. Olivier tripped him and continued running with the rest of the gang.


	16. Chapter 16 the puppet master

Ch 16 the puppet master

Olivier knew that they were behind schedule because of the many stops they did. Now, they were resting in a forest.

Sokka was giving a story, and screamed real high.  
"The sword of Wing Fan was haunted! Ooaaaaaah!"

She briefly wondered if Sokka ever hit puberty because of his high pitched voice. She glanced around the campfire, and noticed everyone was bored.

"I think I like the man with a sword for a hand better." Aang said.

"Water tribe slumber parties must suck." Toph said. Olivier couldn't sympathize more.

"Wait, I've got one." Katara said.

"Let me guess, is this some friend-of-my-cousin-knew-some-guy-that-this-happened-to story?" Sokka asked.

"No. It's real. It happened to mom." Katara said.

Everyone straighten up and paid attention.

Talk about respect.

"One winter, when mom was a little girl, a snowstorm buried the whole village. A month later, mom noticed that she hadn't seen her friend Nini since the storm. So mom and others went to check up on Nini's family. When they got there, no one was there. Just a flickering fire." Katara said, in an uneasy tone.

"While the men went to check outside, mom stayed inside. Suddenly she heard a voice." Katara said.

Aang was watching all over the place, wondering if he would see the girl.

"It's so cold, and I can't get warm." Katara said.

Upon hearing the change in tone, Olivier quickly grabbed her sword, but then remembered it was just a story. Katara's new tone reminded Olivier of the undead army she fought in central command.

"Mom turned and saw Nini, sitting next to the fire. She was blue, like she was frozen. Mom ran outside for help. But when everyone came back in, Nini was gone." Katara continued.

Aang had his eyes wide open in fear, and Sokka was cowering behind a tree trunk.

"Where did she go?" Sokka asked.

"No-one knows. To this day Nini's house remains empty. But some say that you can still some coming from the chimney, like little Nini trying to get warm." Katara concluded.

The theme was so tense, that Olivier could cut it with a sword.

"Guys, did you hear that?" Toph asked, scaring Aang and Sokka, who held onto Katara for dear life.

"I heard people under the mountain." Toph said. "And they were screaming."

"Nice try." Sokka said.

"No. I heard something." Toph said, with slight emphasis.

"You're probably just jumpy from all the ghost stories." Katara said, but with a tight smile.

"It just stopped." Toph said.

Olivier looked at a large mountain, wondering if Toph was telling the truth or not.

"Now, I'm getting scared." Aang said.

"Hello children."

Everyone, except Olivier and Toph screamed in horror. Olivier pulled out her sword and got ready for a fight.

"Sorry to frighten you."

An old women appeared out of nowhere, having a smile on her face. It reminded Olivier of Joo Dee.

"My name is Hama. You children shouldn't be out here by yourself at night. I have an inn nearby, why don't come and have spice tea and warm beds?" Hama asked.

"Yes, please." Sokka said.

As they sat at a table, Hama briefly said that people were disappearing.

"When the moon turns full, people walk in, and they don't come out." She slowly said. "Who wants more tea?" she stood, suddenly smiling.

But everyone was freaked out. Except Olivier. She faced much worse than simple thieves. If someone attempted to snatch her this night, they'd have a rude awakening. Olivier slept well that night. She went with the others to go shopping.

She saw that Sokka had a glum look on his face. Probably didn't get enough sleep. She listened up as Aang and Sokka talked about the town.

"Weird stuff during the full moon. People disappearing. This reeks of spirit shenanigans." Sokka said.

"I bet if we walk around town, we'll find out what the people did to anger the spirits." Aang said.

"Then you can solve it licketty-split Avatar style." Sokka said.

Aang had a smug/I-am-better-then-you-and-I-know-it look on his face.

"Helping people. That's what I do." He said.

"Great if they're alive. Or if they want your help. But what will you do when they're dead, or in so much pain and agony that they're begging to die?" Olivier asked.

The conversation was cut short as Hama asked them to head the inn because she 'had some errands to run.' And will be 'back in a while.'

"This is a mysterious little town you have a town here." Sokka said to Hama, suspicious.

"Mysterious town, for mysterious children." Hama replied.

Inside the inn, Sokka looked around, suspicious about Hama. He opened a closet and a bunch of dolls fell out. Sokka pulled out his sword in response.

"The hell?" Olivier asked.

"Sokka, that's enough." Katara said.

Entering the attic, Sokka attempted to open a single door.

"Then why does she have a hidden and locked closet up here?" Sokka asked.

Olivier shook her head. Sokka was going to die because of his curiosity. Hearing some noise from downstairs, she pulled out her sword and went to investigate.

"I'm leaving." Olivier said, leaving the kids alone. She knew it was a waste of time. And that was the last thing she wanted to do at the moment.

Hours later, and Olivier found herself trailing the kids as they walked into town. Granted, no-one was suspicious of them. But this whole thing was still a waste of time.

They talked to someone who claimed to have seen the spirit. Olivier didn't believe it. But she was forced to follow the kids, as they ran into the mountain. For all Olivier knew, they were running into a trap, filled to the brim with battle-hardened fire nation soldiers ready to capture or kill them.

Jumping into a large opening, they found a metal door, which Toph quickly broke open.

"We're saved." Someone said.

Olivier noted the brutal stench. She saw that the prisoners were tied hands above their heads. Several were in a crucifixion form. She wondered a couple things. How long were the prisoners their? If they were fed water and food, what did the 'warden' do with the feces that would occur?

"I didn't know spirits made prisons like this." Sokka said.

"Spirits didn't make this prison. A person did." Olivier said.

"It was no spirit who did this." A prisoner said.

"What happened here?" Olivier asked.

"We were dragged here. Like some dark puppet master. It was a witch."

"She seems like a regular old woman."

"The inn keeper."

"Hama." Sokka growled.

Olivier ran thru the woods, following Sokka and Aang as they went to rescue Katara from Hama. Olivier gritted her teeth along the way.

 _Mustang better have fat paycheck waiting for me when I get back. If not, I'll kill him and take command of the country._

They approached the two water benders as they finished a duel.

"We know what you've been doing Hama!" Sokka shouted.

"Give up, you're outnumbered!" Aang shouted.

"No." Hama said. "You've just outnumbered yourselves."

Olivier noticed a twisted look in the old woman's eyes.

 _Shit._

She felt a stab of pain throughout her body, especially in the main blood vessels. It became clear to her. She was being controlled!

Olivier gritted her teeth in pain as she attempted to break free from the grip. But it was impossible. Next thing she knew, she had pulled out her Dao swords and started swinging it at Katara. Hama was using her, Sokka, and Aang as live weapons to fight Katara, and probably each other.

Olivier was frozen to a tree with water, thanks to Katara.

"That's over with." She muttered.

But her reprieve was broken as she was then thrusted towards Sokka with her sword pointed forward. Just as it started, it ended. She stood on the ground, feeling no pain. She looked around and focused on Hama. Her face was contorted in pain and surprise, as Katara blood bended her, saving her friends lives in the process.

Olivier watched as Hama was taken away, but she gave Katara ominous and sinister words.

"Congratulations, Katara. You're a bloodbender."

As she left, she laughed sinisterly.

Olivier only hoped that they could end the war fast. Who knew how many people would end up suffering from post-traumatic? What about the kids? They were practically on the front lines, fighting behind enemy lines. Would they be okay?


	17. Chapter 17 nightmares and daydreams

Ch 17 nightmares and daydreams

Once again, Appa set down on a patch of land. Sokka looked at a map and smiled.

"We're here." He said.

"What's this place?" Olivier asked.

"My dad and I picked it out before we separated. And we're 4 days ahead of schedule." Sokka said.

How was that possible? Considering all the stops they had along the way, shouldn't have they been behind schedule?

"Four days? The invasion's in four days?!" Aang asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah. That's four days from now so we can…" Sokka said, then fell asleep.

Then it hit Olivier, the reason of this newfound worry.

"Oh. You got to fight that firelord guy." Olivier said.

Aang almost went into a catatonic state. It took Katara to calm him down. She then turned on Olivier.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"It amuses me." Olivier smiled.

Katara sighed in annoyance.

Next morning, Olivier woke up, and saw Aang awake and checked his pants.

"That's weird." She muttered. She looked closely. The bags under his eyes showed he had gotten no sleep.

She watched as Aang kicked a bush. Why a bush? Olivier didn't know. She'd be more than happy to spar with Aang. And she'd probably wipe the floor with him.

Next, Aang moved to a sturdy tree and started to punch it real hard, in constant movement.

"What's he doing?" Katara asked.

"Looks like overtraining." Olivier said.

Katara went to Aang to try and talk to him.

"You know there is such a thing as over training." She said, as Aang fell down from exhaustion.

He quickly stood up and circled Katara like a prey.

"You don't get it do you?" Aang asked, irritably. "My form is bad, I'm sloppy and I still don't know any fire bending. Not even the basics."

Olivier knew the solution to that. One, sleep so you'll be well-rested for combat. About the fire bending, nothing they can do about it now.

"That's okay, Aang. The eclipse will block out fire bending. Besides, it's a stupid element anyway." Sokka said.

Olivier shook her head at Sokka's frame of mind. The boy had no way how life worked. Did Aang need fire bending for the invasion? Probably not. But he did need to know the forms of fire bending, so as to defend himself. Especially against the firelord.

"Okay. But I still need to train hard." Aang said. He then bowed to Katara. Then to Sokka, then to Olivier.

Olivier watched as Aang rode away on an air ball.

Stress kills.

Being a light sleeper, (commanding a fortress on the Amestrian-Drakman boarder will do this) Olivier noticed when Aang got up and circled some sheep.

What?

Olivier decided not to worry about it and fell asleep again.

Next morning, she woke early and watched as Aang slapped Sokka awake.

"Sokka, wake up! I need to know what day it is!" Aang yelled.

"Would you relax? It's still two days before the invasion." Toph said.

Aang pulled Sokka with him to a good sized mountain.

"You need to work on your rock-climbing skills!" Aang said.

"What?" Sokka asked.

"In my dream, you were trying to run from a fire nation soldier, trying to climb this cliff but you were too slow and they got you!" Aang said.

Olivier only smiled at Sokka's annoyance. She was going to enjoy this.

"I can climb any cliff." Sokka said.

"Then climb that one. Climb it fast!" Aang said, pointing to it.

Sokka looked dumbfounded.

"Don't drink that!" Aang shouted, turning to Toph.

Toph spit the water out, all over Katara.

"Is it poisoned?" Katara asked.

"In my dream, we were right in the middle of the invasion, and you had to use the bathroom. We all died because of your tiny bladder." Aang said.

Olivier only laughed at Aang's weird behavior. She started to inspect her swords and knives when Aang talked to her.

"You have to fight harder! In my dream, you were killed by the fire nation soldiers, because you were too feminine." Aang said, hitting Olivier's berserker button.

"What?" She growled, standing up and walking towards him.

Without even bracing herself or flinching, Olivier gave Aang a brutal uppercut to his jaw and sent him flying across the island.

She turned to the others and scowled.

"This never happened."

Olivier watched as Aang paced in front of everyone else.

"Every time I think about how stressed I am, I get even more stressed." He said.

 _No shit._ Olivier thought, knowing that was what exactly happened.

"No kidding. You got to fight the fire lord." Sokka said, making Aang stress out even more.

"Sokka!" Katara scolded.

"It's true. He knows it." Sokka said.

Katara pushed Sokka onto the ground and grabbed Aang.

"I have just the thing. Get ready to be destressified." She said, dragging Aang away.

Olivier gave Katara a thumbs up.

Katara looked back with a weary look. Looks like someone didn't have much confidence in themselves.

It didn't work, as Katara came back with blood-shot eyes.

"You wanna try?" She asked.

"Try what?" Olivier asked.

"Help Aang." Katara said.

Olivier looked at Aang. He wasn't looking so good. In fact, he looked like he could drop dead any second.

"Alright." Olivier said, walking towards him.

Having a friendly smile on her face, she walked towards Aang.

And since Aang never knew her that well, he didn't see it coming.

"What did you do?!" Katara asked.

"I knocked him out. Perfect destress." Olivier said.

Aang woke up, and was pissed.

"How are you doing?" Olivier asked.

"How am I doing? That's all you can say?!" Aang asked.

"Yes. You feel angry at me." Olivier said.

"YES!" Aang responded.

"Then it worked." Olivier said, and walked away.

Aang stood with a confused expression on his face. Then he snapped.

"Olivier, fight me like a warrior!" He shouted.

Olivier only smirked as she pulled out her broadswords. The lack of sleep was making Aang sound like her brother. No matter. She kicked her brother's ass, and she'll kick the avatar's ass.

"Twinkle-toes, you're overreacting too much. All she did was knock you out." Toph said.

"All she did? She didn't even apologize!" Aang shouted.

"Don't you get it Aang?" Sokka pipped up. "You're angry with her. So you're forgetting about your fight with the fire lord."

Olivier face palmed about Sokka's stupidity. And she was forced to knock Aang out.

"I have one final trick up the sleeve." Katara said.

"What's that?" Sokka asked.

"Shear the sheep and make a bed. It should help Aang sleep." Katara said.

Hours later, and many hallucinations later, Aang walked into camp, exhausted beyond measure.

"Oh look. Another hallucination. A bed made of clouds." He said.

"Hey! It's real! We spent hours working on it." Toph said.

"We made it for you. A good nights sleep will probably take the crazy away. We hope." Sokka said.

"Look. You guys say that I need sleep. But I can't! the invasion's tomorrow!" Aang exclaimed.

"Aang…" Katara said.

"No, Katara! There's still so much I haven't learned. I don't need sleep. What I need is practice. Quick, hit me!" Aang said, and wobbled a bit.

"I'm not going to hit you." Katara said.

"I'll do it." Olivier said, brandishing her sword.

Sokka grabbed her arm and shook his head.

"Guys, I still need more training." Aang said.

"Aang, you're ready for this. You've been training and preparing for this since we met." Katara said.

"You think so?" Aang asked.

"We know so." Sokka said.

After some encouragement from his friends, Aang finally fell asleep.

"That's over with." Olivier said.


	18. Chapter 18 day of black sun

Ch 18 day of black sun

Olivier woke up and got ready. She sharpened her swords and knives. She went to the shore and washed herself. She noticed Katara and Sokka looking at a map and looking at the sea.

"Do you think the fog will delay the invasion?" Katara asked.

"No. That is the invasion." Sokka said.

6 water tribe ships appeared thru the fog, and Aang and Toph wasted no time in creating docks for the newcomers.

Olivier watched as everyone met with each other. The friendly greetings and conversations.

They were going to war.

They were invading heart of the fire nation.

This was a suicide mission.

But Olivier remembered that fight she and her brother had with Sloth. When Alex had asked how she was doing, Olivier just spat some blood and smirked. She had a broken arm, and several broken ribs. Olivier rubbed it off as nothing.

Olivier only did it, so as to not scare her brother. Because she knew that if the fight had gone on longer, she'd be dead.

So that's what they were doing. Maybe she was wrong.

"Where's Olivier?" Hakoda asked.

Olivier walked away, not wanting to talk to anyone right now. She didn't feel like it.

Katara didn't get that, and walked after the Amestris general.

"Olivier, what's wrong?" Katara asked.

"This is war. A suicide mission." Olivier said.

"We know that." Katara said.

"Does it occur to you'll probably never see anyone again?" Olivier asked.

Katara was taken back, but then brightened up again.

"But if we believe we can win, we can win." She said.

Olivier scoffed at her naivety.

"It's war, Katara! People die! Even if we do succeed, how many will die in the process? Your father, your brother, Toph, Aang! How many?! Hell, this mission could fail and all of us will either die, or end up in the fire nation death camp!" Olivier almost shouted.

The ice queen's words seemed to have an effect on Katara, as she simply walked away, without a retort.

Olivier looked over a map Hakoda pointed to after his rousing speech. She looked at the battle plan over and over. They were walking into a trap. They were going to march thru the open courtyard, and get ambushed by dozens of heavy artillery fire.

"Hakoda, we need to talk." Olivier said.

"What is it, general?" Hakoda asked.

"Your plan sucks." Olivier spat. "Look here. We're marching the troops into an open killing field. They'll have artillery weapons such as catapults or launchers on the high ground. Considering the amount of soldiers we have, the only way to deal with this is to put all of our forces to attack the artillery. Move your troops on the high ground. You got earth benders. Use them."

"We already have a plan. As much as your plan makes sense, this is the only way without taking high casualties. I already have an idea on how to take out the artillery." Hakoda said.

"What is that?" Olivier asked.

"Me, Sokka, and Katara will go on Appa and take them out from the air." Hakoda said.

"I hope this plan works. If we get bogged down any one time, God help us." Olivier warned.

Heavy breathing came from her body. Olivier grabbed her sword's handle and got ready. Once the subs hit the beach, all hell would break loose.

The front doors opened, and Olivier ran out with the rest of the troops. Almost immediately they were under attack by the fire nation battlements. Out of the corner of the eye she saw a projectile fly over her head and explode less than a second later.

Fire nation tanks came out along with supporting infantry. The tanks were quickly taken out by water benders and their own earth tanks. Olivier parried sword blows with one enemy soldier and quickly killed him.

Olivier spends the next hour killing fire nation soldiers, and watches as the ragtag army dwindles down from constant fighting.

Sokka appears on Appa and takes charge of the group. With newfound energy, the army surged forward and left the open courtyards and fought into the tighter houses. They were soon going to march up the volcano side. Olivier looked at the mountain, and saw dozens of bunkers and artillery weapons.

"Fuck." She muttered, knowing that casualties would be high.

Aang came back on his glider and told them the fire lord wasn't there. Olivier was more than happy to pull back their forces and attack the fire nation another day. But did the kids see that? No. They just decided to go and look for the fire lord himself.

What a bunch of idiots.

"You feel anything down their?" Aang asked.

"Yup. There are natural tunnels crisscrossing the insides of the bunker." Toph said.

Olivier took note of the word crisscrossing. They were heading into the enemy bunker, and may never find the fire lord because of the labyrinth.

But the kids went thru anyway and went thru the tunnels. Olivier looked as lava flowed down into separate areas. She grimaced at the idea of said lava touching human skin.

Following the advice of a guard they interrogated, they approached a large door and broke it open.

"So you're still alive." Azula said.

Olivier pulled out her sword, ready for yet another rematch. But then her disciplined mind, hardened by years at Briggs broke thru. The guard had told them the fire lord was here. But her daughter was here.

Olivier gritted her teeth in anger. Azula was using a delaying action. She ran away from the Avatar as they fought a few dai li agents from Ba Sing Se.

Everyone ran after her, but Olivier slowed down. She knew that it was useless. They were just wasting time.

She walked out the way they came and waited.

After what seemed like forever, the kids came out. Sokka was particularly angry.

"What changed your mind?" Olivier asked.

"We ran out of time. Simple as that." Toph said.

Everyone looked as a fleet of zeppelins and balloons moved over the invasion force.

"Shit." Olivier said.

They watched as the zeppelins bombed the submarines, cutting off the chance of escape.

Meeting with the main force, they went over the options, which were very limited.

Sokka wanted to fight, but Hakoda had a better plan. Send the kids and Olivier away to fight another day. Everyone else stayed behind to surrender.

As they flew on Appa towards the western air temple, no-one said anything, physically and emotionally drained from the day.


	19. Chapter 19 the western air temple

Ch 19 the western air temple

No-one said a thing as they walked towards the western air temple. Aang said that they'd be safe there for a while. Olivier doubted that. If the fire nation found the temple before, nothing would stop them from sending those zeppelins after them.

"This is humiliating." Katara said.

"Getting thoroughly spanked by the fire nation, or walking to the western air temple?" Sokka asked.

"Both." Katara said.

Now that was something. Usually, Katara had a comeback to Sokka's sarcasm. The fact that she didn't showed just how much despair Katara was in.

The gang approached a cliff edge, and Toph announced they were here. Olivier looked over the ledge and saw only a steep cliff.

"Where is this temple?" Olivier asked.

Olivier was given her answer when Appa, carrying them flew downward and she saw the temple, inside the cliffside. It was hanging upside down.

Jumping off the bison, Olivier sat against a wall and fell asleep. She was exhausted after the invasion.

The gang discussed their new plan.

"So what's the new plan?" Aang asked.

"Our new plan, is the old plan. You just have to master all four elements and confront the fire lord before the comet comes." Sokka said.

Olivier shook her head. If they couldn't come up with a decent plant, they shouldn't come up with a plan at all. It would just get them all killed.

They were always counting on Aang. If they trained themselves to be stronger and better, they'd have a better chance of surviving. But like Olivier said, she no longer wanted to help them on any of their stupid quests. And this took the icing of the cake.

Where the hell where they gonna find a fire bending teacher that would teach Aang fire bending this late in the war? And they were already out of time.

Olivier heard footsteps and surmised the kids had left. Finally at peace, she contently slept.

After an hour Olivier heard another set of footprints. Looking up, she saw a teenager with scruffy hair, a nasty scar, and a pair of Dao swords.

Olivier looked into his eyes and saw no maliciousness. Taking a chance, she introduced herself.

"Olivier."

"Zuko."

"What you doing here?" Olivier asked.

"I wanted to join your group, and teach the avatar fire bending." Zuko said.

Olivier noticed how tense he was.

"Sure thing." Olivier said.

With nothing to do, the two waited in awkward silence. When the gang came back, Olivier stood up and put a hand on her sword, waiting to see what would happen.

"You're gonna love the all echo day chamber." Aang said.

"I think that's gonna have to wait." Toph said.

Appa moved and revealed Zuko and Olivier. Olivier only smirked as she saw their horrified faces. It looked like they'd seen the deepest parts of hell itself.

Who knew Sokka could turn purple?

"Hello. Zuko here."

Everyone immediately went into defensive stances.

"Olivier, come here! He's the son of the fire lord." Sokka said.

"Really?" Olivier asked, and looked at Zuko again. She quickly compared him to Azula. There was no way the two were related. At all.

"Olivier, he's Azula's brother!" Sokka shouted.

"I know that. But I almost killed Azula at the drill, remember? I can handle him." Olivier said.

"What are you doing here Zuko?" Katara asked.

"I know you're surprised to see me here-" Zuko started.

"Not really. Since you chased us all over the world." Sokka said.

"Look. Zuko here wants to join the family and teach Aang fire bending." Olivier put out.

"You wanna what now?"

"You can't possibly think any of us can trust you. How stupid do you think we are?" Katara asked.

"Yeah! All you'd ever done is hunt us down and try to capture Aang." Sokka added.

Olivier rolled her eyes in disgust.

"Guys, listen. We're out of time and ideas to fight this war. He's the fire lord's son. He said he wants to teach Aang fire bending. We need all the help we can get right now." Olivier said.

"Olivier, he's pure evil!"

"I don't know if you're on our side anymore!" Sokka howled.

Olivier walked up to Sokka, a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"I would rather live with men, then kill them. Which is why you and your gang are still alive. I could have refused to come on this mission. Azula might have killed Aang at the drill, and then everyone else. I also could have deserted the group many times to fight the war on my own. None of you would have made it far against the fire nation elite. You don't know evil at all. I've seen some truly evil shit that would make the fire nation look like innocent toddlers." Olivier spat.

"Ask Toph. She'll know if he's lying or not." Olivier said, who went to pack up her things.

After a few seconds, Toph spoke.

"He's telling the truth."

"That's right, mother fuckers!" Olivier shouted.

"How the hell did she hear that?" Sokka asked.

But Zuko was forced to leave towards his camp. That night, Olivier and Toph went to him.

"Who's there?" Zuko asked.

"Me and Toph." Olivier said.

"Hey guys. Thanks for sticking out for me." Zuko said.

"Don't worry about it. They can be jerks sometimes." Toph said.

"Or they're fucking incompetent." Olivier spat.

"So you have an idea? You know for me to teach Aang fire bending?" Zuko asked.

"Not at the moment. It's rather sad that they're letting their personal feelings get in the way." Toph said.

"I have an idea. The three of us leave, and fight the war on our own. Those three don't know shit. Zuko comes here, and they conveniently forget that Aang needs a fire bending teacher. If they won't accept you, I suggest we leave them behind. I'd rather not associate myself with the living dead." Olivier spat.

"How'd you know I wasn't lying?" Zuko asked.

"I've been thru a lot. Been with a lot of fake good guys. You pick up real quickly who's the real deal, and who's not." Olivier said.

"I hate to break to you, but the three of us won't do much against the fire nation." Zuko said.

"We can handle ourselves a hell of a lot better than they can." Olivier said.

"No. We need to work with the Avatar. He's the only one who can end this war." Zuko said.

"Aang, Aang, Aang. It's always on him. What happens when he dies from exhaustion, or combat? Are all of you going to throw down your swords and surrender?" Olivier asked.

"Lets just get some sleep. We'll talk about this in the morning." Zuko said.

Olivier and Toph walked into the temple the next morning and Katara interrogated them.

"Where were you two?" She asked.

"Out." Toph curtly said.

"You visited Zuko, didn't you?" Katara asked.

"Yeah. What of it?" Olivier asked, walking away from the water bender.

Katara grabbed Olivier's shoulder and turned her around, only to receive a fist to the nose breaking it. Olivier grabbed Katara by the neck and lifted her up.

"Whatever problems you have with Zuko is in the past! Leave it alone. Have you forgotten that Aang needs a fire bending teacher?!" Olivier shouted.

They had no time to argue or fight, because combustion man suddenly attacked.

"Stop! The mission is over. I'm ordering you to stop!" Zuko shouted, attacking the combustion bender.

That caught everyone off guard.

"You say he's evil?" Olivier smirked, despite that they could die the next second.

"Whatever." Katara shrugged off.

"You're a bitch. You know that?" Olivier asked, even though combustion man continued to bomb them with combustion blasts.

After a few more attacks, Sokka pulled out his boomerang and threw it real hard. The weapon hit combustion man in the forhead, knocking him out.

"Allright, it worked!" Sokka said.

Combustion man gets up.

"Oh fuck. It didn't work!" Sokka replied.

Everyone hid and waited for the next blast. While an explosion was heard, it didn't hit them. Combustion man blew himself up, attempting to force the chi block aside.

Everyone looked in shock as they saw combustion man die. Olivier watched as they went into the courtyard, including Haru, Teo, and the Duke.

Where'd they come from?

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but thanks, Zuko." Aang said.

"What about me, I did the boomerang thing." Sokka said.

Zuko spoke, ignoring Sokka.

"Listen, I know I didn't explain myself very well yesterday, I've been through a lot in the last few years and it's been hard. But I'm realizing that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I had lost my honor, and that somehow, my father could return it to me. But I know now that no one can give you your honor. It's something you earn for yourself, by choosing to do what's right. All I want to do now is play my part in ending this war, and I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world."

"I think you _are_ supposed to be my firebending teacher. When I first tried to learn firebending, I burned Katara, and after that, I never wanted to firebend again. But now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love. I'd like you to teach me." Aang said, catching Olivier off guard.

Yesterday, he was bent on not having Zuko teach him. Being in a life-or-death scenario will change your mind real quickly.

"Thanks." Zuko said, bowing to Aang. "I'm so happy you've accepted me into your group."

"Not so fast." Aang said. "I still have to ask my friends if it's okay with them. Toph, what do you think?"

"Sure thing. It'll be nice to mess around with someone else in the group." Toph said.

"Olivier?" Aang asked.

"More the merrier. Maybe he'll teach you guys how to actually fend for yourself." Olivier replied.

"Sokka?" Aang asked.

"Hey, all I want is to defeat the Fire Lord. If you think this is the way to do it, then, I'm all for it." Sokka replied.

"Katara?" Aang asked.

Katara glared at Zuko before speaking. Aang watching the debacle, failed to notice Olivier slowly pulling out her sword.

"I'll go along with whatever you think is right." Katara said, grudgingly.

Olivier put her sword away, but kept an eye on Katara. It seemed like she was the threat everyone should look for, not Zuko. Sokka went thru the same shit she did, and he was more forgiving.

As Zuko got settled into his room, Katara went to talk to him. Olivier stayed outside and listened as Katara basically threatened Zuko. Olivier shook her head. She would try and sabotage Zuko from teaching Aang fire bending. It's fire bending for god's sake! Of course it'll be dangerous!

As Katara walked away, Olivier grabbed her and pinned her against a wall.

"You need to get your shit together, right now. If not, I'll take Aang and Zuko away from the temple and oversee the training myself. If you try to seek us out, I will kill you. Threatening Aang's new fire bending teacher isn't the best way to start things off. Do you want to end this war, or not?"

"Of course I do." Katara said.

"Then why are you acting like the fire lord himself?" Olivier spat, leaving Katara stunned.

Olivier left, brandishing her sword in the process.

Katara had serious problems. It could be what drives the group apart.


	20. Chapter 20 the fire bending masters

Ch 20 the fire bending masters

"Guys, I lost my stuff." Zuko said, approaching the group at night, after a bad day of training.

"I didn't steal it." Toph replied.

Olivier quit sharpening the Kilij she captured during the invasion and looked up.

"No. My fire bending." Zuko said.

Olivier wondered how that could have happened, when Katara sourly laughed.

"Sorry. I'm just ironic how it would have been better for everyone if you have lost your bending a long time ago." Katara said, smirking at Zuko.

"Wow. You are the biggest bitch I'd ever seen. Guess what, it's the present. Aang needs a fire bending teacher. Zuko is the only fire bender who's willing to work with us. And he's the fire lord's son. Who else could provide the Achilles heel needed right now? But all you can do is just scorn and not focus on the present." Olivier said to Katara, glaring at her.

"Zuko, what happened?" Olivier asked.

"It's not really lost. It's just weaker for some reason." Zuko said.

"Maybe you're not as good as you think you are." Katara sourly replied.

"I bet it's because I changed sides." Zuko said, not bothered by Katara's rudeness.

"That's impossible." Katara replied.

Aang glanced at her and then at Zuko. He briefly noticed Olivier sharpening her sword at a furious pace.

"Maybe your fire bending comes from rage." Aang said. "And you don't have enough rage to fuel it like it used to."

"So all we need to do is make Zuko angry. Easy enough." Sokka said, and started poking his sword at Zuko, gauging his reaction.

"Cut it out!" Zuko snapped, scaring Sokka for a second.

 _Better him then me. If Sokka tried that to me, I'd break both his arms._ Olivier thought. She quickly went over her thought, and was surprised at how bloodthirsty she was becoming.

"Even if you're right, I don't want to rely on anger and hate anymore. There's got to be another way." Zuko said.

"You're going have to learn to draw your fire bending from a different source." Toph said, gathering her thoughts. "I recommend the original source."

"What's that? He supposed to jump into a volcano?" Sokka asked.

"I don't know. For earth bending the original masters were badger moles." Toph said.

"The original masters of fire were dragons, and they're extinct." Zuko said.

"There were dragons when I was around 100 years ago." Aang said.

"Well they're gone." Zuko growled towards Aang.

"But there is another way." He continued.

"The first people to learn from the dragons were the ancient sun warriors. But they died thousands of years ago. Their civilizations aren't too far from here. Maybe we can find something by poking around the ruins. If there are any ruins at all." Zuko said.

"So what? Maybe you'll pick up some super old sun warrior energy just by standing where they stood a thousand years ago?" Sokka asked.

"More or less." Zuko replied.

That morning, Katara pulled Olivier aside.

"I want you to go with them." Olivier said.

"Why?" Olivier asked.

"Because he's our enemy! He's going with Aang, alone." Katara hissed.

"He's our enemy. You've had plenty of time to kill him. Why didn't you? And do you trust the Avatar?" Olivier asked.

"Of course I do. It's Zuko I don't trust." Katara said.

"Just think for a second. Zuko doesn't have his fire bending. Aang is a master of three elements. If Zuko were to try something, Aang can easily kick his ass." Olivier said.

But Katara wouldn't see reason. She was still paranoid about Zuko.

"Fine. I'll go. But only to stop myself from cleaving your head off." Olivier said.

And Olivier went with Aang and Zuko to the ruins.

She walked behind the pair as they looked at the ruins. Olivier noticed that much of the ruins was cracking and about to wither away.

She also noticed that there were parts of the ruins that didn't have dust accumulation. Which meant that people still lived here. Olivier put that in her mind and waited for them to show up. No use searching for them in their backyard.

As they arrived at a well-maintained gate, a fact which went unnoticed by Aang and Zuko, Zuko pulled out a sword and used the shiny blade to manipulate the sun rays to open the door. They walked into a large room, with many statues in a circle.

ta

Aang copied a pose from a statue, and noticed that the statues were dance moves. He immediately grabbed Zuko.

"Zuko, come dance with me." Aang said.

"What the hell?!" Zuko asked with wide eyes, wondering if Aang had temporarily lost it.

"Just do it." Aang said.

Both Zuko and Aang copied the statue's various movements and arrived at the end of the circle. A pedestal appeared from the ground holding a golden egg. The egg was well maintained. That tipped Olivier off. That gold should have rusted long ago. She left the room and waited as a booby trap was tripped by Zuko. Olivier walked up another path and found Zuko and Aang with their heads sticking out of the ceiling.

"Olivier, get us out of here." Aang said.

"Can't do that. I'm not a bender. And if that stuff can pin two humans with ease, I can't break it with a sword." Olivier said.

Olivier stopped down and touched the ground. There was little dust collection, and the concrete was somehow intact, with a few cracks here and there. Olivier stood up and walked away.

"Where are you going?!" Zuko shouted.

Olivier didn't respond but continued walking. She hid and watched the two from a distance. Someone would show up. If they freed Aang and Zuko, good. If not, she'd kill them.

When I became apparent that no harm was intended, Olivier walked out of her hiding space and joined her friends as they confronted the sun warriors.

"I don't normally play this card, but I'm the Avatar."

"My name is Zuko. I'm the fire lord's son. Or I used to be."

"Olivier Armstrong. I'm a friend of theirs."

"What are you doing here?" the leader asked.

"We wanted to learn the true way of learning fire bending. I never imagined the sun warrior society was still alive. I'm truly honored to be in your presence." Zuko said, bowing to the leader, with Aang following.

Zuko and Aang traversed the mountain side, carrying parts of the eternal flame given to them by the chief. Olivier wondered how it was all supposed to go. They were to show the flames to the two masters. Olivier also wondered who the two masters were.

The Amestrian general watched as the two benders walked up the steep steps and faced two opposite caves. After tense minutes, the masters came.

"Oh shit!" Olivier shouted, noticing that the two masters, were two dragons!

 _How the hell am I gonna explain this to Katara? Oh well. That bitch won't listen at all. I'll just leave them and fight the war on my own._ Olivier thought.

She watched as the two performed the same dance they did in the temple. After a few seconds, both dragons spewed out fire.

"No!" Olivier shouted, apparently witnessing their deaths. She pulled out her sword and approached the leader of the sun warriors, intent on getting vengeance for Aang and Zuko's death.

"Look." A sun warrior said.

Olivier looked and saw that Zuko and Aang were still alive. They walked down the stairs and displayed their newfound fire bending in front of everyone.

Back at the temple, Olivier sat with the rest of the group as they watched Zuko and Aang demonstrate the dance they did in front of the dragons.

"Yeah, that's a great dance you two learned there." Sokka said.

"It's not a dance. It's a fire bending form." Zuko defended.

"Okay. We'll just tap-dance our way to victory over the fire lord." Sokka continued.

"It's a sacred form that happens to be thousands of years old!" Zuko said, walking up to Sokka.

"What's your form called?" Katara asked.

"The dancing dragons." Zuko said, much to his embarrassment.


	21. Chapter 21 the boiling rock

Ch 21 the boiling rock

Olivier rested as everyone continued doing the same thing they were doing the past few days. Nothing. Except Aang and Zuko, who were practicing their newfound fire bending. Olivier watched as Zuko and Sokka went away from the group.

Curious, she followed the both of them and heard of a prison called the boiling rock. And it was in a volcano. Such a fitting name.

"Sure thing buddy. No problem." Sokka said, walking away from Zuko. But Zuko already knew what Sokka planned on doing.

"He's going to get himself killed." Olivier said, surprising Zuko.

"Where'd you come from?" Zuko asked.

"Just from over there. If Sokka is planning on a POW rescue, count me in." Olivier said.

"Welcome aboard." Zuko sarcastically said.

After confronting Sokka about his plan (really, the kid was an idiot. Taking a flying bison to a heavily guarded fire nation prison. They'd easily get caught), they left the temple and headed towards the prison.

And talk about an awkward silence. It was broken as Zuko and Sokka talked about previous girlfriends. Olivier got the feeling that Zuko was never happy in the fire nation, and was now glad to be away from them. Considering how oppressive and crazy the government was, she'd leave as well.

As they approached the island, the balloon started to descend, and fast.

"We're going down!" Zuko urgently said, fire bending inside the engine, trying to keep them afloat.

"The air inside is just as hot as the air outside. That's why." Sokka said.

"What do we do?" Zuko asked.

"Crash land I guess." Sokka replied.

"And hope we survive." Olivier put in.

The balloon skilled across the boiling water, hence the name of the prison, and crashed into a rock formation, tossing the passengers out.

"What are we going to do now?" Zuko asked, seeing that they were marooned on the island.

"We'll figure something out. I figured it would be a one-way trip." Sokka said, as he gathered parts of the balloon.

"You knew this would happen and you came anyway?" Zuko asked.

"I never wanted you to come." Sokka retorted.

"That's the kind of planning that will get you killed. How many times have your friends saved your ass in the past, trying to salvage one of your plans gone wrong?" Olivier asked.

"My uncle said I never think things through. But this is crazy!" Zuko said.

"Hey, for the record, I always think things through. But my plans haven't been going as they should, so I'll play it by ear." Sokka retorted, pushing the wreckage in the boiling water.

"What are you doing?" Zuko asked.

"It doesn't work anymore. We don't want anyone to find out." Sokka said.

"There's no turning back from this. I hope you know what you're doing." Zuko said, as they faced the impregnable prison.

Inside the prison, they gathered new uniforms to disguise themselves in. They were called to quell a problem.

"This is some bullshit. I'm going back to my cell." A large prisoner said.

"You broke one of the rules, Chit sang. You didn't bow to me." A guard said.

"That's not a rule." Chit sang replied, and continued to walk away.

The guard produced a fire whip and threw it at Chit sang. He turned around and blocked it with his own fire bending.

"Fire bending is forbidden in this prison. You're going to the cooler." The guard sadistically said.

Olivier was surprised. This man was a fellow fire bender, and yet he was being treated like a POW. She wondered just how cruel the fire nation's inhabitants were. Maybe it would have been better to send in the state alchemists and lay waste to the country, just like Ishval.

Olivier gathered as much intel as possible from the guards. The boiling rock did contain the fire nation's most dangerous prisoners. But there were no war prisoners. Olivier knew the sick and disturbing truth. The fire nation used the POWs as cannon fodder against their enemies.

She met with Zuko and Sokka and Zuko confirmed her suspicions. It seemed like this mission was a bust. And now they were trapped at the prison. Sokka quickly ran down the stairs and into another prison block.

"What's he doing?" Olivier asked.

"Apparently his girlfriend is here." Zuko said.

"Jesus Christ. After we win the war, we can then free the prisoners here. Not now when we need to escape." Olivier said.

"He's an odd one." Zuko said.

"That's putting it lightly. While we were in the desert, he was tripping on acid the whole time. I thought he'd never recover. Apparently, he didn't recover at all." Olivier said.

"And he wanted to come here on his own. On Appa." Zuko said.

"Yep. Me, you, and Toph. We should have left and c ontinued the war on our own." Olivier said.

Olivier walked away and did a perimeter check, looking for a way to get out. She found a blind spot between two guard towers. But they needed something to move across the lake. And it was boiling hot, complicating their problems even more.

The next day, Olivier and Sokka oversaw Zuko and Suki mopping the floors. Pulling them aside, Sokka told them of his plan.

"The cooler can be used as a makeshift boat. We can use that to escape." Sokka said.

"How are you going to get the cooler out?" Suki asked.

"Yeah. How are you going to get the cooler out?" Chit sang asked.

"Someone will need to be put inside. Imprisoned. But it's freezing cold in there." Olivier said.

Zuko and Chit sang faked an argument and Zuko fire bended, which put him in the cooler. So far, it was going according to plan.

That night, Olivier helped Zuko, Sokka, and Suki move the cooler down a slope to Chit sang and his friends.

"Fine. Everyone in the cooler." Sokka said.

Olivier watched as Zuko and Sokka argued about what to do next. And they were wasting time as it is.

"Just make up your mind, goddamn it!" Olivier shouted.

After a few seconds of silence, Sokka chose to stay behind.

"I hope we didn't make a huge mistake. We're all dead if that's true." Sokka said.

Next morning, they watched as a gondola moved in. They watched as prisoners came out.

"That can't be it." Sokka said, disheartened.

"Get out of the gondola." A guard shouted.

Sokka looked up again, and saw his father walking out.

"Dad."

Sokka and Olivier, still in disguise as prison guards over watched as the warden addressed the prisoners. Olivier wondered of the warden was a man or a women. Did the fire nation have the medical technology and skill to perform sex change operations? Or was it the result of some freak birth or genetics?

Olivier put those thoughts away as she and the other guards were shuffled away. She later met with Sokka and talked.

"I found my dad. We have one more chance to escape." Sokka said.

"How? There are more guards then before." Olivier said.

"We're starting a prison riot. While everyone is distracted, we'll escape on the gondola." Sokka said.

"And if the warden cuts the wires?" Olivier asked.

"We'll take the warden hostage. That should give us all the leverage necessary." Sokka said.

"Okay. I'm for it. God help us if it fails." Olivier said.

"Trust me. It won't." Sokka said.

Olivier raised an eyebrow.

In an armory, Olivier sharpened her sword when other guards pulled her out. She was lined up with Sokka and other guards. The warden and chit sang were In front of them.

Chit sang pointed to the bully guard and watched as he was being dragged away. Olivier looked to her side, and Sokka looked close to falling on the ground emotionally exhausted.

"What's the next move?" Olivier asked.

"I'll let the prisoners out. Then the riot will begin." Sokka responded.

Olivier waited for the riot. Soon, the prisoners were let out into the courtyard. But there was no riot. They just stood around doing nothing.

"This is a problem." Olivier muttered.

She watched as Chit sang grabbed a prisoner and lifted him over his head, telling the others to start rioting. And they rioted. Everyone fighting everyone. With their teeth, fingers, fists, fire bending, and bare hands.

"Where's Zuko?" Olivier asked, as she noticed that Zuko wasn't with them.

"I'm here." Zuko said, running to the group. "What now?"

"I'm not sure." Sokka said.

"I'll take care of it." Olivier said. She ran thru the rioting prisoners and up the main tower. When she arrived to capture the warden, Suki had already beaten her and had the warden captured.

"Nice work. Now we need to get out of here." Olivier said.

They moved towards the gondola, with Olivier holding a sword to the warden's neck.

"Back off! We got the warden." Zuko warned.

They entered a gondola and started to move away. Zuko broke the lever and jumped to the gondola, being caught by Sokka.

"What's that for?" Sokka asked.

"I'm making it so they can't stop us." Zuko said.

Azula and Ty Lee appeared, and moved towards the escaping gondola.

"This is a rematch I've been waiting for." Suki said.

Suki, Sokka, Zuko, and Olivier got to the top of the gondola, and waited for the inevitable fight. Sokka, Zuko, and Olivier fought Azula, while Suki and Ty Lee faced each other.

Azula fought hard against Zuko and Sokka, but the tide was turned when Olivier appeared out of nowhere and swung her Kilji at the fire princess. Azula screamed in pain as her back was sliced open, and blood began to pool on the roof of the gondola. Azula looked at Olivier and moved forward to attack her, only for the gondola to stop moving.

"They're going to cut the line!" Ty Lee warned. Another gondola came for Azula and Ty Lee, and both of them escaped.

"I hope this thing can float." Hakoda said.

"I doubt it." Olivier said, putting her sword away.

The gondola began to move, much to their surprise. Looking behind them, they saw Mai free them, who began to fight the multiple fire nation guards.

"Damn it." Zuko said, guilty for leaving his ex behind. She was now at the 'mercy' of the fire nation princess.

"I'm sorry, Zuko." Sokka said.

"She'll be fine." Zuko said.

Olivier noticed that Zuko wasn't so confident about that. And he had good reason to be worried.

Arriving at the air temple with a fire nation zeppelin, Olivier headed to her room and dropped her weapons on the ground. Tired and exhausted, she collapsed on the bed and fell asleep.


	22. Chapter 22 the southern raiders

Ch 22 the southern raiders

Olivier woke up to the sound of explosions going off. Standing up, she saw a group of fire nation zeppelins approach the temple, guns blazing.

"Who the hell's attacking us?" Olivier asked.

"Go one and escape. I think this is a family visit." Zuko said, running towards the zeppelins.

"Shit. He's gonna die against them." Olivier said.

They pulled on Appa's reigns, but the bison wouldn't budge.

"Appa hates tunnels!" Aang shouted.

"Aang, there's no way we can fly out of there." Katara said.

"We'll have to find a way." Aang said, sitting on the bison's head, reigns in his hand.

"About time he grew a pair." Olivier muttered.

"We need to split up. Everyone else take the air ship and get out." Sokka said.

"No." Katara angrily shouted. "The fire nation can't separate our family again!"

Growling in impatience, Olivier grabbed Katara and pulled her towards the bison. Gripping her by the neck, Olivier gave Katara a KO.

"What was that for?" Sokka asked.

"If we don't move now, we're all dead!" Olivier shouted over the explosions.

"I can clear a way out of there." Toph said, jumping on Appa.

"There's a lot of fire in that direction." Suki said.

"Did you lose your balls in the boiling rock?" Olivier snarled.

"We'll get through." Aang determined.

The bison broke thru the earth barrier and fled the temple, and Azula. Aang turned around and flew under the zeppelins to catch Zuko as he fell from his duel with Azula. Everyone watched as Azula fell to her death.

"She's not gonna make it." Zuko said. He was proven wrong when Azula used her fire bending to propel herself towards the wall and saved herself.

"Of course she did." Zuko spat.

No-one spoke. They were driven away from the last safe hold from the fire nation. But the earth kingdom was a large country. They might be able to avoid the fire nation patrols, depending on where they landed.

When they landed, Katara woke up, clutching her head.

"What happened?" She asked.

Everyone stepped away from Katara. She suddenly remembered and confronted Olivier.

"What the hell was all that for?" she asked.

"Your sentiments almost got us killed." Olivier pointed. Quicker than anyone could blink, Olivier pushed Katara onto the ground, hand on her neck.

"Get your mind in the war. Focus on survival and training the Avatar. If not, you will die before it's over. I promise you that. Let it go." Olivier dangerously growled.

Olivier pulled out a knife and swiftly stabbed the floor next to Katara's head. Olivier stood up and walked towards Sokka.

"If she survives this war, put her in a goddamn mental asylum." Olivier said.

That night, as they chatted around a campfire, Olivier stayed a few inches away from the group, and sharpened her sword. Again. Man, the fire nation needed to work on its sword making skills. They were nothing compared to Amestris.

"To Zuko. Who knew after all those times trying snuff us out, he'd be our hero?" Sokka said, raising a glass.

Everyone raised their glasses, except Katara.

"Thanks. I don't deserve this." Zuko said.

"Yeah. You don't." Katara angrily said, before walking away.

"What's with her?" Sokka asked.

"I wish I knew." Zuko said, walking after her.

"What's with him?" Sokka asked.

Olivier also stood up and walked after the both of them. She pulled out her sword and crouched behind a bush.

"What can I do to make it up to you?" Zuko asked.

"Maybe you can conquer Ba Sing Se in the name of the earth kingdom. Or better yet, you can bring back my mother from the dead!" Katara yelled, then walked away.

And people thought Olivier was the ice queen. Katara was making Olivier look like an angelic saint. And that was saying something.

Later the next day, she watched as Katara approached Aang, with Zuko in tow.

"I need to borrow Appa." Katara said.

"Why, is it your turn to take a field trip with Zuko?" Aang jokingly asked.

"Yes." Katara said.

Aang turned around, confused as everyone else was.

"Oh. What's it about?" he asked.

Katara wasted no time in explaining her mission.

"We're going to find the man who killed my mom." Katara said.

Everyone was quiet, and Olivier wondered if Katara had snapped and gone nuts.

"Sokka told me the whole story. I know where he is." Zuko said.

"What exactly do you think this will accomplish?" Aang asked.

 _Simple! She'll kill the fucker and be done with it!_ Olivier thought, almost blurting it.

Katara scoffed at Aang.

"I knew you wouldn't understand."

"Wait, I do understand! You're feeling unbelievable pain and rage. How do you think I felt about the fire nation when I found out about my people? How do you think I felt when Appa went missing?" Aang asked.

"She needs this Aang. She needs closure and justice." Zuko said.

 _Yes. That's correct. So Aang, just let Azula 2.0 go and kill the man who took her mother away._

If it were someone from the Armstrong family, Olivier would find the killer, and torture them to death in the most brutal way possible. Impalement, castration, etc.

"I don't think so. I think it's about getting revenge." Aang said.

"Fine! Maybe that's what he needs. That's what he deserves." Katara said.

"Katara, you sound like jet." Aang said.

Who the hell was Jet? If it was important, she'd find out.

"It's not the same. Jet attacked the innocent. This man, he's a monster!" Katara shouted.

Olivier closed her eyes. When one wants revenge, they'll believe any deluded shit, just to bolster their position, and to absolve themselves of any atrocity they'll commit.

"Katara, she was my mother too." Sokka said, trying to calm her down. "But I think Aang might be right."

This was something the siblings wouldn't forget, but Sokka had gotten over it.

"Then you didn't love her as much as I did!" Katara snarled.

Olivier pulled out her sword. Yeah, she treated Alex like shit sometimes, but she knew you never treated family like that. Katara did not deserve a loving family, not in this state of mind.

"Katara, you need to leave. Now." Olivier said, pointing her sword at the water bender.

"Fine." Katara said, and mounted Appa.

"Zuko." Olivier said.

"What?" he asked.

Olivier pulled Zuko aside and gave him her last 2 daggers. And her broadswords.

"If Katara goes nuts like she is doing now, kill her." Olivier said.

"Are you mad?" Zuko asked.

"Lie. And say you ran into fire nation soldiers. A fight broke up, and Katara was killed in the fighting. They'll understand." Olivier said.

"You've lost it." Zuko said, taking the weapons.

"I'm afraid so." Olivier agreed.

That night, Aang, Sokka, and Olivier confronted Katara and Zuko.

"So you were just going to take Appa like that?" Aang asked.

"Yes." Katara said.

"That's okay. Because I forgive you." Aang said. "That give you any ideas?"

"Don't try to stop me." Katara warned.

"I wasn't trying to. You need to face this man. But when you find him, please don't choose revenge. Let your anger out, and then forgive him." Aang said.

Olivier snorted. Katara was more likely going to kill the man then forgive him. Although Olivier didn't blame Katara for going after him. She'd do the same thing.

"Olivier, come with us." Katara said, wanting the ice queen to come with them.

"No. You need to do this on your own. Maybe it'll do you some good." Olivier said, before walking away.

For the next few days, they waited for the duo to come back. Olivier knew Katara, or anyone in the gang for that matter, never killed. Or see someone die in front of their eyes. Seeing the life disappear from another person. That was very mind and body numbing. You never got over it.

"You alright?" Aang asked, sitting next to Olivier.

"No. When Katara comes back, if she comes back, she'll be a different person. You never get over killing someone. Seeing the life disappear from their eyes, watching them plead and beg for you to spare them, but also know that their life will end at your hands. Then at night when you sleep, you see that same scenario again and again. Post traumatic is a terrible thing. I've seen some of the most hardened soldiers break down, sometimes go crazy because they couldn't handle the things they've done." Olivier said.

Aang thought over the speech Olivier gave.

"I have a question. You have to face the fire lord. What are you going to do about that? Will you be able to handle it? Taking another life?" Olivier asked.

"I don't know. I don't know if I'll be able to kill." Aang said.

"Grow a spine and balls real soon. It'll come down to that. The fire lord won't hesitate to kill. You have to kill before he does." Olivier said, before walking away, leaving Aang alone to his thoughts.

That evening, Katara and Zuko came back.

"How'd it go?" Olivier asked.

"She didn't kill him." Zuko said.

"Good for her." Olivier said.

But as Olivier thought about their adventure, she thought of the man Katara confronted. He's still alive, suffering from guilt over the killing he's done. Maybe it would have been a mercy to kill him.


	23. Chapter 23 ember island players

Ch 23 ember island players

Olivier watched with the rest of the gang as Aang and Zuko practiced their fire bending. She knew they were running out of time. Sozin's comet was coming real soon.

"Anyone else find it weird we're in the fire lord's old house?" Katara asked.

"This is the last place anyone will look for us. The last time my family was here was when we were happy. And that was a long time ago." Zuko replied.

"You guys are not gonna believe this." Sokka said, running towards the group with Suki in tow.

"What is it?" Aang asked.

"There's a play about us." Sokka said, pulling out a poster.

"We were walking into town and found this." Suki said.

"How is that possible?" Katara asked.

"Listen to this. _The Boy in the Iceberg_ is a new production from acclaimed playwright Pu-on Tim, who scoured the globe gathering information on the Avatar, from the icy South Pole to the heart of Ba Sing Se. His sources include singing nomads, pirates, prisoners of war, and a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage." Sokka said, reading the poster.

"Brought to you by the critically acclaimed Ember Island Players." Suki added.

"Oh God, no." Zuko sulked. "My mother used to take us to see them. They butchered love amongst the dragons every year."

"Sokka, are you sure it's a good idea to watch a play about us?" Katara asked.

"Come on, a day at the theater? This is the kind of wacky time-wasting nonsense I've been missing!" Sokka said, with a grin on his face.

Olivier declined their invitation, knowing that it would be a horrible play. The fire nation was holding a play about their enemies. Of course they would portray them in negative forms, for propaganda purposes.

Olivier walked the beach and mused about her situation. She was fighting another war, and the war was about to end. They were weeks away from the comet. She heard that this comet granted the fire benders incredible power, and was used 100 years ago as a catalyst to committing genocide against the air benders at the start of the war.

"We're already out of time. We're trying to stave off the inevitable." She muttered.

"Out of time for what?"

Olivier behind her and saw Fuhrer Mustang, with a smirk on his face.

"How's it going, General?" Roy asked.

"Fuck you." Olivier spat, angry at Roy.

"What ticked you off?" Roy asked.

"Well, if you'd allow me to take a platoon sized unit of soldiers from Briggs, this war would have ended months ago. Hell, you should have sent in the state alchemists. The fire nation would have been crushed by them. Why only me?" Olivier asked.

"Because you're the best we could afford right now." Roy said.

"You mean I'm expandable. Just great. Well, let me tell you something. We're out of time. In a few weeks, a comet will arrive, which will grant the fire nation incredible power. They will use to destroy the world. I need the state alchemists and all the soldiers from Briggs to help end this war. These kids don't know a damn thing at all. I don't think they have a plan for the comet." Olivier ranted.

"Well wrap this up quick. The higher ups are anxious to see these benders and their capabilities. It could help our country in many ways." Roy said.

"Well, that's great and all. But make plans if you hear that all of us are dead. And if the fire nations is aware of Amestris, they might launch a full scale attack. So be prepared for that as well." Olivier warned.

"Where's the Avatar?" Roy asked.

"They're in a theater, watching a play about themselves. Dumbest think I heard. They'll be sorely disappointed about it." Olivier smirked.

"Nice to know you're so optimistic." Roy replied.

"I'm never optimistic. Only realistic." Olivier said.

Roy left and headed back to Amestris, and the rest of the gang came back.

"How was the play?" Olivier asked.

"Worst play, ever. Of all time. Seriously." Zuko said.

"But the effects were descent." Sokka said.

"It still sucked. Man, I wish Azula and the fire lord would kill those actors." Katara said.

"I figured something like this would happen." Olivier said.

"You knew?" Aang asked.

"Use your head. You're in the fire nation. The enemy country. They make a play about you, their enemy. They're going to portray you guys in a negative way for entertainment for propaganda purposes." Olivier explained.

"It still sucked." Aang said.


	24. Chapter 24 sozins comet part 1

Ch 24 Sozins comet part 1

Olivier stood against a wall, with a scowl on her face. She watched as Zuko and Aang practiced their fire bending. Looking at her watch, she grimaced. The comet was coming real soon. She didn't have an exact date, but she knew it was coming real quick.

Olivier watched as Zuko left Aang to his own devices.

"Zuko's right. Sitting around the house has made us lazy. But I know just the thing. Beach party!" Sokka exclaimed, and dove into the water.

Olivier curled her hands in anger. These kids were fooling around, when the comet could arrive within a week! They needed to spend as much time preparing for it as possible.

Hearing an explosion, she ran outside and saw Zuko chasing Aang, throwing fire blasts at him.

"What's going on?" Katara asked.

"Zuko's gone crazy! I made this sand sculpture of Suki, and he destroyed it! Oh, and he's attacking Aang." Sokka said, adding the last part.

"Probably for a good reason." Olivier said.

"What makes you say that?" Katara asked.

"All of you are lazing around. Have you forgotten about the comet?" Olivier asked.

Everyone ran to the beach house and found Zuko lying on the ground, with Aang next to him.

"What's wrong with you? You could have hurt Aang." Katara said.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with all of you? How can you all sit around having beach parties when Sozin's comet is only 3 days away?" Zuko angrily asked.

Everyone, sans Olivier, looked at Zuko.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Zuko asked.

"About that, I was going to wait to fight the fire lord until after it came." Aang said.

"After?" Zuko asked, shocked.

"I'm not ready. I need more time to master fire bending." Aang said.

"Frankly, your earth bending could use some work too." Toph added.

"So you all knew Aang was going to wait?" Zuko asked.

"If Aang attempts to fight the fire lord right now, he's going to lose." Sokka said. "No offense."

"The whole point of fighting the Fire Lord before the Comet was to stop the Fire Nation from winning the War, but they pretty much won the War when they took Ba Sing Se. Things can't get any worse." Katara said.

Olivier thought it was a good plan. If you can't fight your opponent in the present, wait until a moment arises. But Zuko said something next that shot her thought down in flames.

"You're wrong. It's about to get worse than any of you can possibly imagine. The day before the eclipse, my father asked me to attend an important war meeting. It was what I dreamed about for so many years. My father had finally accepted me back. But he had a plan to use the comet's power to burn the earth kingdom to the ground. Nothing can stop him except the Avatar." Zuko said.

Everyone was in shock at the plan. Even though Olivier had been thru Father's plan to create a giant philosopher stone and usurp God, this plan was still horrifying.

"Listen. I know you're scared. But if you don't defeat the fire lord before the comet comes, there will be no world to save." Zuko warned.

Zuko trained Aang on lighting redirection, made up by his uncle and emphasized a point.

"You'll have to take the fire lord's life before he takes yours." Zuko said.

"Yeah. I'll just do that." Aang said, albeit uncomfortable.

That afternoon, a training sequence commenced. Toph took part of the fire lord and everyone else moved to attack her.

Olivier ran with Sokka and Suki and confronted several statues of fire nation soldiers. Olivier pulled out her sword and cut the statues into pieces. They continued running when a boulder fell near them. Olivier grabbed Sokka and yanked him aside, while Suki jumped overhead.

"Watch it, Toph!" Sokka shouted.

"I'm not Toph, I'm the melon lord!" Toph boasted, clearly enjoying her part.

Olivier watched as Zuko and Katara dodged another boulder and destroyed more dummy soldiers.

"Now Aang!" Sokka shouted.

Aang jumped from a hiding place and prepared to strike the water melon posing as the fire lord, but stopped inches from contact.

"What are you waiting for? Take him out!" Zuko shouted.

"I can't." Aang said.

"If this was the real deal, you'd be throat full of lightning right now." Sokka said, making a cutting motion with his own hand.

"It just didn't feel right. I didn't feel like myself." Aang said.

Disgusted, Olivier pulled out her sword and sliced the water melon open.

"That's how it's done." Sokka said to a wincing Aang.

Olivier picked up a part of the water melon and started eating it.

Later that night as everyone ate, Katara came with news.

"I have a surprise, everyone." Katara said.

"I knew it! You did have a secret thing with Haru!" Toph said, smiling. Everyone else looked at her strangly.

"No." Katara said, weirded out by her friend. "I was looking for cooking pots in the attic, and found this."

Katara unrolled a scroll which showed a baby.

"Look at baby Zuko. Isn't he cute?" She asked.

"That's not me. That's my father." Zuko said.

"But he's so sweet and innocent." Suki said.

"That innocent kid grew up to be a monster, and the worst of all fathers." Zuko said.

Aang argued with the group about what they should do. Everyone was advocating that Aang kill the fire lord. Even Olivier agreed with them. But Aang wanted to avoid killing him.

"Aang, the fire lord will kill you, unless you kill him. Can't you see that? Do you honestly want to end this war?" Olivier asked.

"Yeah I do!" Aang shouted.

"Then do what is necessary. Take out the fire lord. If not, he will win the war." Olivier said.

Aang angrily stormed away.

"Pathetic. He's not gonna survive the fight with the fire lord." Olivier said.

Next morning, Aang was nowhere to be found. They searched everywhere and found nothing.

"Judging by the looks of your faces you didn't find him." Sokka said.

"It's like he just disappeared." Zuko said.

"Has anyone else noticed that Mom's missing?" Toph asked.

Sokka than went hysterical.

"Oh no. I knew it was a matter of time. Appa ate Momo!" he shouted, then went inside the Bison's mouth.

Olivier would have found it funny, but the situation was way too dark and serious right now.

"Get out of the bison's mouth, Sokka. Aang is gone, and the comet is only two days away!" Zuko said.

"What should we do, Zuko?" Katara asked.

"I don't know. Why are you all looking at me?" Zuko asked.

"Well you are the expert at tracking Aang." Sokka said.

"Yeah. If anyone has experience hunting the Avatar, it's you." Toph said.

"Get on the Bison. I'll steer." Zuko said.

Sokka voiced Olivier's thoughts, hell he voiced everyone's thoughts.

"Zuko, I don't wanna tell you how to do your job, but why are we heading towards the Earth Kingdom? There's no way Aang's there."

"Just trust me." Zuko said.

They landed in the earth kingdom and approached a tavern. Why'd they come here so far away from the fire nation?

"And the reason you brought us to a seedy earth kingdom tavern is what now?" Katara asked.

"June." Zuko said, pointing to women fighting other thugs.


	25. Chapter 25 sozins comet part 2

Ch 25 Sozins comet part 2 the old masters

"Oh yeah. That weird bounty hunter with the giant mole." Sokka said.

"What mole? Her skin is flawless." Suki said.

"No, she has this giant mole creature that she rides on." Sokka said.

"A shirshu. It's the only animal that can track Aang's scent anywhere in the world. It's the one shot we have of finding him." Zuko said.

 _What is wrong with this place?! An animal called by a human blemish. Next thing you know, there will be a bird called cancer! Or flesh eating disease! If I survive this war, I'm never coming here again!_ Olivier thought.

"I don't know who this June girl is, but I like her." Toph said.

"Hey, I remember her! She helped you attack us." Sokka said.

"Yep. Back in the good old days." Zuko said.

"Oh great. It's prince pouty. Where's your creepy grandpa?" June asked, drinking from a cup.

"He's my uncle. And he's not here." Zuko said.

June looked at Zuko and Katara and made a snide comment.

"I see you worked things out between your girl-friend."

"I'm not his girlfriend!" Katara angrily said.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Zuko said at the same time.

"Take it easy. I was only teasing." June said.

Olivier heavily breathed in and out, trying to calm herself down and not snap into a killing spree.

"I need your help finding the avatar." Zuko said.

"Doesn't sound too much fun." June said.

"Does the end of the world sound more fun?!" Zuko shouted. June's eyes went wide open. Olivier thought Zuko would incinerate her on the spot.

They walked outside and went to Nyla, the shirshu. Olivier didn't know what to make of the creature. And she decided not to ask about it's specifics.

"Who's got something with the Avatar's scent?" June asked.

Katara gave June Aang's staff. They watched as the animal walked around in circles then rested.

"What does that mean?" Zuko asked.

"It means your friend is gone." June said.

"We know he's gone. We're looking for him." Toph said.

"No. he's _gone_ gone. He doesn't exist." June said, looking at them.

"How did that happen?" Olivier muttered.

"What do you mean he doesn't exist? You mean he's dead?" Sokka asked, fearful of the answer.

"No. We could easily find him if he was dead. That's a real headscratcher. See ya." June said.

"Helpful. Real helpful." Toph said.

"Wait. There's one more person who can defeat the Fire lord. I'll be back with a sample." Zuko said.

Zuko came back with his uncle's smelly sandle. Everyone except Toph and Zuko pinched their noses. Even Olivier had to back away from the stench.

"You kept your uncle's sweaty sandal?" Sokka asked in disgust.

"I think it's kinda sweat." Toph said.

"Something's wrong with you. Big time." Olivier said.

Everyone got on Appa and followed June and Nyla. They quickly arrived at the outer wall of Ba Sing Se. Olivier took notice of the hole in the wall. Probably created by the Fire Nation when they took the city.

"It's been a long day. We should make camp." Zuko said.

As they slept, a large flame surrounded the group. Everyone stood up, waiting for their attackers to show up. The flames died down, and multiple people came, dressed in white.

"Well, look who's here." A much older person said, not noticing that Olivier and Zuko had their swords drawn.

"What's going on? We're surrounded by old people." Toph said.

"Not just any old people. These are masters and friends." Katara said.

As the gang got reacquainted with their newfound allies, their organization was revealed.

"We're all part of a secret organization that transcends the division of the four nations." Piando said.

"The order of the white lotus." Zuko said.

"That's the one." A much older member, King Bumi, said.

"The White Lotus has always been about philosophy and beauty and truth. But about a month ago, a call went out that we were needed for something important." Jeong Jeong said.

"It came from the grand lotus. Your uncle, Iroh of the fire nation." Pakku said.

"We're looking for him." Toph said.

"We'll lead you to him." Piando said.

As they were escorted inside the camp, Olivier wondered how they avoided detection.

"The fire nation troops are inside the city. They're not concerned about the outer wall. Since the earth kingdom military is broken beyond repair, there's not much for them to do right now." Piando said.

Olivier found a spot and fell asleep. She could only hope she'd survive the next few days. Because shit would hit the fan.

"Uncle, you're the only person other than the avatar who can possibly defeat the father lord." Zuko said.

"You mean fire lord." Toph pointed out.

"That's what I said." Zuko angrily said.

"No Zuko, it won't turn out well." Iroh said.

"You can beat him. And we'll be there to help you." Zuko said.

"Even if I did defeat Ozai, and I don't know that I could, it would be the wrong way to end the war. History would see it as just more senseless violence, a brother killing a brother to grab power. The only way for this war to end peacefully is for the Avatar to defeat the Fire Lord." Iroh said.

"And then you'll take your place on the throne?" Zuko asked.

"No. It must be an idealist with a pure heart and unquestionable honor. It must be you, prince Zuko." Iroh said.

"I've done so many bad choices in my life." Zuko said.

"Yes, you have. But you've always followed your own path. You restored your own honor, and only you can restore the honor of the fire nation." Iroh said.

"What if Aang doesn't come back?" Toph asked.

"Sozin's Comet is arriving, and our destinies are upon us. Aang will face the Fire Lord. When I was a boy, I had a vision that I would one day take Ba Sing Se. Only now do I see that my destiny is to take it _back_ from the Fire Nation, so the Earth Kingdom can be free again." Iroh said.

Olivier didn't believe in destiny, but she believed that a person should do all they can do to achieve their goal until they reached it.

Zuko and Katara volunteered to go and take out Azula, so to control the fire nation when Ozai falls. It reminded Olivier when she, Briggs soldiers, and mustang initiated a rebellion in the capital of Amestris. She could have took command of the country had things gone according to plan. But the bastards Truth and Father fucked things up. Still, the country was on the right path and the evil SOBs were dead.

Olivier decided to go with Toph, Sokka, and Suki to take out the fire lord's fleet of zeppelins. She only hoped they could intercept them in time.


	26. Chapter 26 the end of the war

Ch 26 the end of the war

Olivier looked at the approaching comet, and noted how beautiful it looked. Then compared it with the bleak situation they were in. The fire lord was going to use it to destroy the world.

"The comet actually looks beautiful." Suki said.

"To bad the fire lord's gonna use it to destroy the world." Toph said.

Arriving at the shore, they heard the roar of propeller engines running.

"We're too late. The fleet's leaving!" Sokka exclaimed.

"We're going with them. Where's the nearest ship?" Toph asked.

"It's…" Sokka started, but didn't finish as Toph catapulted everyone onto the nearest zeppelin. They made their way across the giant zeppelin and were near the control room. Olivier pulled out her sword, ready to fight.

"Don't. They got enhanced bending. Let Toph take care of it." Sokka advised.

Olivier nodded and put her sword away. Toph broke down the door and metal bended the door around her in a form of armor. She quickly dispatched the fire benders and cleared the room.

"That's how it's done." Toph said.

"Great work, Toph. Time to take control of the ship." Sokka said.

"That's a great idea. Let the blind girl steer the giant airship." Toph sarcastically said.

"I was talking to Suki." Sokka said.

"That makes a lot more sense." Toph said.

"What about the rest of the crew?" Suki asked, taking control of the zeppelin.

"I got an idea." Sokka said, and grabbed a tube-like speaker.

"Attention, crew, this is your captain speaking. Everyone please report to the bomb bay immediately for hot cakes and sweet cream. We have a very special birthday to celebrate." Sokka said into the speaker.

Leveling near the ocean, Sokka opened the bomb bay doors and dropped everyone into the water. Olivier had to give it to Sokka. It was a good plan.

They moved close to the zeppelin formation, but only watched in horror as the fire benders started firing large blasts of fire at the earth kingdom, turning the area into a charred wasteland. As the end of the world started, the lead zeppelin was shot down by the Avatar.

"It's Aang! He's back!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Looks like he grew a pair." Olivier said, smiling.

"Shouldn't we be helping him?" Suki asked.

"Ozai is Aang's problem we need to destroy the zeppelin fleet before they burn down the earth kingdom." Sokka said.

"And how are we to do that? I can't see outside this floating hulk of metal." Toph pointed out.

"Airship slice." Sokka said.

"A kamikaze run?!" Olivier asked.

"Yeah. It'll work." Sokka said.

"We only got one shot at this. If not, then God help us. And trust me. That bastard won't do a goddamn thing." Olivier spat.

Everyone watched as the fire benders on the other zeppelins started to unleash large blasts of fire onto the continent. The heat could be felt miles away.

"Woah. That's an awful lot of fire, isn't it?" Toph asked.

"It is." Olivier said, looking at the enemy fleet.

Sokka put the zeppelin on an intercept course, and put as much power into the engines.

"It's gonna be a bumpy ride! We need to get to the top of this thing, fast." Sokka said.

"Then what?" Suki asked.

"Watch each other's backs. If we make it that far, I'll let you know." Sokka said, briefly kissing Suki.

They raced to the top of the zeppelin, as parts of it were being destroyed from colliding with the rest of the fleet. At the top, they ran towards the front end, trying to buy as much time as possible. The zeppelin broke in two, leaving Suki on one end.

"Suki!" Sokka shouted.

"I'm fine!" Suki shouted, landing on another zeppelin. "Just finish the mission!"

"No." Sokka said.

"Sokka, we gotta jump!" Olivier shouted. The three jumped from their demolished zeppelin and landed on another one. Running across it, they arrived at the rudders and Toph started to metal bend it.

"Have I ever mentioned how sweet it is that you invented metal bending?" Sokka asked.

"You could stand to mention it more." Toph said, pleased with Sokka's praise.

As the Zeppelin crashed into another zeppelin, a fire bender appeared thru a hatch and fired at them.

"Run!" Olivier shouted.

They ran perpendicular to the zeppelin and fell down Sokka and Olivier stabbed their swords in an attempt to slow them down. Sokka landed on one of the platforms, holding onto Toph. Screams were heard, and two fire benders fell from the zeppelin.

Olivier came with a blood stained sword and pulled both of them up.

"We need to get inside." She said.

"In front of us." Sokka said, as more imperial fire benders came, ready to finish the trio off.

"This is it, Toph." Sokka said.

The fire benders suddenly ran away, and a loud crashing noise was heard. The trio jumped onto the new zeppelin, relieved for another chance to live.

"It's Suki!" Sokka said.

"How did you commander a zeppelin by yourself?" Olivier asked.

"Long story." Suki replied.

Everyone watched as Aang beat the living shit out of the firelord. It wasn't even a battle. Ozai was running for his life, and Aang unloaded on the fire lord with everything at his disposal. A large fog occurred from all the destroyed rocks, vaporized water, and torrent air, clouding their vision from the fight. They witnessed a bright light of two colors, orange and blue.

"What's going on?" Olivier asked.

"I don't know. But it must be Aang's doing." Sokka said.

When the dust and smoke cleared, they saw Aang standing triumphant over a fallen Ozai. Docking at the plateau, Olivier walked up to the duo.

"Is he dead?" Suki asked.

"I'm still alive." Ozai growled.

Olivier glared at Aang and pulled out her sword, ready to kill the fire lord.

"I found there was another way. I took his bending away." Aang said.

Olivier put her sword away, satisfied with the answer. If the fire lord didn't have his fire bending to intimidate his country and people, than he was of no use as a leader, or a person. The war truly was over.

"Wow! Who taught you that?" Toph asked.

"A giant lion turtle." Aang said.

"You have the craziest adventures when you disappear." Toph said.

Days later, they were at the fire nation coronation plaza. Despite the brutality of the war, especially the last few hours, everyone seemed happy and joyful. Olivier knew they were happy to be alive, and happier that the war ended, and peace had been restored.

Zuko appeared and made a speech to the masses.

"Please. The real hero is the Avatar. Today this war is finally over! I promised my uncle that I would restore the honor of the Fire Nation. And I will. The road ahead of us is challenging. A hundred years of fighting has left the world scarred and divided. But with the Avatar's help, we can get it back on the right path and begin a new era of love and peace." Zuko said, as everyone cheered in joy and support.

A fire nation sage came and put the headpiece in Zuko's hair.

"All hail, fire lord Zuko!" he said.

Zuko stood up and everyone once again cheered. This would be an event remembered for millennia.

Badly needing some R&R, they headed to Ba Sing Se and settled in Iroh's tea shop.

"Zuko, stop moving. I'm trying to capture the moment. I wanted to do a painting. So we can remember the good times." Sokka said.

Olivier watched as everyone playfully criticized Sokka's painting. Olivier looked over the painting and found there complains rightfully justified. The painting was terrible. But considering all they went thru, it was a symbolic start of a new chapter.

In the lounging area, Olivier sat in a reclining chair and rested. When she got back to Amestris, she was going to take a long vacation. Iroh sang a song, which lulled Olivier to sleep.

"Leaves from the vine, falling so slow.

Like fragile, tiny shells, drifting in the foam.

Little soldier boy, come marching home.

Brave soldier boy, comes marching home."

No-one would say it to Olivier, nor would Olivier ever admit it, but light tears rolled from her eyes as she slept, touched by the song.


End file.
